Cafune
by RawrISay
Summary: This is my AU Mass Effect. All new characters created. However, the original Mass Effect characters, created and owned by the wondrous Bioware, will make appearances. This is a story about broken bonds, and destroyed friendships. Teenage angst, betrayal, and an eventual budding romance. And what story would be complete without Asari strippers, guns and eventual sex!
1. Chapter 1

"Atemisk.." 

He could hear his mother's usually gentle voice call out his name in a rather unusually demanding tone. 

"Atemisk.. listen to me." 

No. He shook his head, hoping to loosen the grip of the resurfacing memories. He refused to relive them right now. Not after his incredibly successful drug bust. It had been a very good day. So he'd have no reveries about that part of his past tonight. He'd been in incognito for almost two months now trying to discover something. Anything! Too many days went by without any kind of clue and he was starting to lose patience. As were his superiors. But today those mercs had slipped up. Someone had either gotten lazy or was sacrificed in order to make enough time for the rest of those mercs to get away. Atemisk had finally stopped the illegal red sand distribution running on the Citadel. Tomorrow he would interrogate the lone mercenary he'd arrested. And then he'd worry about the mercs that had fled. But he need not worry about that tonight. Tonight he was going to celebrate. Tonight, he was finally going to bed Alesshi T'kelas. The curvy Asari currently grinding her hips against the pole in the middle  
platform of the nightclub. 

He'd had had his eyes set on her for almost a year now. Alesshi was stunning. They never seemed to talk that often though. And when they did, he kept their converations light. Best not to become too involved. He'd made that mistake before, and he would not make it again. This was just sex. There was no obligation for any semblance of permanence. There was no pain. He had no duties to uphold. And for the most part, no one got hurt. Sex was simple. And he was completely content with this lifestyle.

It seemed as though Alesshi had grown quite popular since his last visit several weeks back. He remembered when the owner would have her play bartender or waitress more often than "entertain". Something or other about her being too shy. Although, shyness seems to be no burden for her tonight, if her bare breasts and naked supple ass were anything to go by. No wonder she'd become so popular.

He decided to enjoy a few drinks first and then he'd find Alesshi later in the night. Atemsik weaved his way through the crowd of bodies smashing against one another. The nightclub was filled with aliens of every race. It was nothing short of a miracle that his fringe hadn't taken anyone's eye, or rather eyes, out. After what seemed like minutes of trying to avoid clumsy patrons and their drinks, he finally made it to his usual booth in one of the more quieter corners. He sat down on the velvety seat and sighed at the instant relief of being off his feet.

His booth was by no means extravagant. But with the rock-like military beds his jobs provided, to him his booth felt like the what the humans would call a "California King bed". He wasn't sure what a "California" was, or what it had anything to do with a bed. But he was sure this was what they would feel like.

Aside from the comfort, he was thankful for the space as well. Atemisk was quite tall, even by turian standards. So imagine his surprise to be able to actually fit comfortably in a seat. Especially considering the fact that this was a human owned establishment. It seems as though they'd gone the extra mile in making sure all of their clientele were seen to with their own special needs. It had plenty of room for him and two other people to sit on either side of him. Not to mention roomy enough for another being to slip underneath the table to show him "appreciation" for his continued service to the galaxy. If one was inclined to do so.. again. Some days he loved his job. Other days he REALLY loved his job.

He stretched out six weeks worth of stiff muscles, crossed his arms and leaned back into the plush cushions. He looked around at all of the attending patrons tonight. Asari, Human, Salarian, Hanar, Elcor, Volus. He was sure he'd even seen a couple of Quarians in front of the club. Thanks to the Reaper war, peaceful coexistence among the races was established. Well, for the most part. There were still petty crimes, drugs, slavery and the illegal selling of arms. No matter how many times he'd clean up a mess. There'd always be more to do. More people to save. But that was life. 

He smiled and took solace in the fact that at the end of the day people of different races could laugh and share a few drinks together. There's no better bonding glue than by working in tandem to fight a common enemy. Even so, alcohol made even the most mild mannered people act stupid. And this was place certainly packed with enough of it. His steel grey avian eyes scanned the entirety of the club seeking out all of the possible exits, just in case things got ugly tonight. Which usually happened more often than not. 

It was Atemisk's job to protect the Galaxy and its people. But there'd been far too many close calls for him in this club. He'd been on the receiving end of too many fists during his attempt to break up a fight. And he wasn't the type to let someone go unpunished for causing him harm. Especially his face. That was his meal ticket when it came to getting women. Well, that and his dual toned voice. So, when it came to the score board, Atemisk may have resumed more fights due to a misplaced punch than he did actually ending them.

But for the most part, he was a very careful turian. He never got into any situation he didn't see a way out of, or at least an exit to escape from if things did indeed go awry. And they almost always did for him. He took note of all exit doors and even a few open windows closer to the ceiling. He'd have to do a bit of complicated climbing to get there, in the event of C-SEC showing up and blocking all of the exits. But nothing he couldn't handle. He'd picked it up from his brief, yet still dangerous time as a merc. Parkour, he believed is what they called it. 

He chuckled at the thought. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to be submerged in the memory. Deciding to join the Talons was a stupid idea from the get go. But he needed to do it. He wanted to. His father, Calleus, had drilled everything even remotely militant into Atemisk's brain from a very young age. He was a retired general and spent much of his career serving on the Turian Sixth Fleet. His father had played a vital role in defending the Galaxy from the Reapers. Working side by side with all other races to protect organic life as a whole. He was only a young soldier then. But in time through hard work, determination, and a trophy case full of medals, he was eventually moved to the Turian Spec Ops. So his father's overly strict demeanor was to be expected, but all the same, it was unwelcome. Atemisk felt he should be able to choose what ever job he wanted. It was, after all, HIS life. Clearly his father hadn't felt the same. But stemming from both a very militant race and family, one wasn't given much choice as a turian. 

So Atemisk had listened to every lesson he had to give. He had taken all the classes, all the lectures, all of the "training camps" his father signed him up for. And eventually he started to excel at them all. He beat record times, aced every test, and demolished his competitors during every shooting competition. He even received letters of recommendation from the drill sergeants to attend any boot camp once he turned the age of fifteen. The look of pride on his father's face would have made Atemisk do it all over again. He'd face every challenge, deal with all the hell and stress it had put onto his young eleven year old body, just to see his father's face light up in pride one more time. He'd spent weeks training, giving up nearly all of his free time, and lost countless hours of sleep. But in that shining moment, it'd been worth every ounce of sweat. 

The day he graduated his training camp, his brother, Tilus, apparently had news of his own. Freely willing and eager to follow in his father's footsteps, Tilus had just joined the Turian Sixth Fleet himself. Atemisk had never seen his father actually smile before. Well, other than at his mother. But Caellius' mandibles were spread into as big a turian smile as far as his plates would allow. Having Tilus eagerly chasing Caellius' shadow while Atemisk just reluctantly suffered through it, naturally made all accomplishments Atemisk had made virtually useless in his father's eyes. Caellius was at Tilus' side in an instant. Praising him with possibly every adjective he knew. Atemisk congratulated his brother and attempted to tell him about his own accomplishments of the day, when his dad cut him off mid sentence put his arm around his eldest son and led him to the kitchen to continue his praising. His father didn't even spare him a last glance. 

Atemisk waited for his father to come back around. But he never did. He showed very little interest in anything Atemisk did after that. All the training he'd endured, the stress, the backlash from the other students. It was all rendered useless in a matter or moments. He remembered his small mandibles being pulled in so hard on his plates, they'd nearly cracked. He remembered the sting of tears threatening to fall from his eyes and his sharp talons cutting into the softness of his palms from clenching his fists so hard. If it was that easy to lose his father's attention, then he realized it was just going to be a lifetime of him trying to compete with his brother. And he did not want to play that game. He wanted his own life.  
He decided that was the day to finally stop shadowing his father and do something HE wanted to do for once. He would prove that he was not a hollow shell for his father to vicariously live through.

Now that he thought of it, he should have just went to enjoy the nightlife of Omega. Start small with a small amount of danger tied in. But instead, he joined up with the Talons. He donned their armor, and took up an alias to remain anonymous. Best to keep his two lives separate from each other, lest someone he loved get hurt. Now that he was older, he could laugh at how immature he'd been. Now he realized just how fucking stupid he was for even entertaining the idea. In lieu of the two prominent bullet wound scars he possessed, he could have died. Hell, he almost did! He would have had she not followed him.

If she hadn't come..

Atemisk's eyes nearly popped from their sockets with how fast they shot open. He growled at himself for thinking of her again. He hadn't thought about her this much for years. Why now? He needed to relax, he needed to stop thinking. The night was just getting started and he already needed a drink. 

As if on cue, Atemisk noticed a waitress making her way with a tray full of drinks to his table. He immediately recognized her. Her name was Christina and she was looking rather attractive tonight. His predatory eyes could already make out the out of place layer of makeup covering her usually pale face, even from quite the distance between them. She had a very slender frame with legs that seemed to never end. And the thigh slit dress she was wearing tonight only seemed to prove that theory. She seemed to effortlessly float through the crowd with practiced ease. Her frame making it very easy for her to navigate around every patron without so much as bumping them.

"Mr. Qu'in," she said by way of greeting, when finally reaching his table.

"Christina," his mandibles spread and he flashed her a quick turian grin. To which she reciprocated with one of her smiles. With the pleasantries out of the way, she laid her tray of drinks on his table, handed him his usual choice of Ryncol and then helped herself to the cushion next to him. 

"So, when'd ya get back?" She asked, leaning back against the cushions.

Christina had usually pale skin. Tonight however, not so much. In fact, now that she was close up, he noticed just how much makeup she had put on. Her normally pink lips were now a deep red. Her orange hair normally pulled into a ponytail was now draped across her shoulders. And her freckles were nowhere to be seen. She normally had enough freckles to put some Asari to shame. They traveled from her face to her shoulders and even further. Although she seemed fairly insecure about them, Atemisk was quite fascinated by them. How could humans differ so greatly from one another? Their skin, weight, heights, voices, hair. Even their textures differed. While turians had small and sometimes hardly recognizable differences. With humans, the sky was the limit.

Some like Christina, could be so small and frail. While others literally looked like they could burst from their clothes at any moment. Some human's hair would be flat, and all but stuck to their head. While other's would bounce around in enthusiastic ringlets. To him, humans were a truly interesting race. In fact, if he were being honest with himself, he would go so far to say that he'd developed quite the fetish for them. He quickly recovered from his train of thought to answer her question.

"Only a few hours ago, actually," He replied.

"Woooow! Hours, huh? I'm impressed! Surprised you didn't have them immediately drop you off here," she teasingly bumped him with her shoulder and laughed. He couldn't deny how right she was. He would never admit it to her. But he couldn't deny it to himself. He lived alone. His apartment here on the Citadel didn't merit much to him in the "home" department. It served more as a storage unit than anything. He may have slept there a few times. But he worked a lot. He didn't have enough time to make it a home. And to be honest, he didn't care to. He loved his job. So he didn't mind being away for months on end. He liked it that way. So he spent most of his off duty hours here. On occasion he'd visit his family, but that was becoming less and less frequent as of late.

"You've impressed me tonight as well," he said through sips of his drink.

She raised a well groomed eyebrow at him. "And why is that?" She flirtatiously smiled up at him. She enjoyed their talks. It was plain as day on her face.

"I've been here for a whole, what-," he set down his drink and took a look at the time on his omni-tool, " 5 minutes. And you're already here with all of my drinks for the night. 5 minutes is a new record for you. Seeing as how my drinks take about 2 minutes to prepare, each, I'm guessing you had the time to prepare them ahead of my arrival. Meaning you either expected my being here tonight, or and I'm just going out on a limb here, you make them for me every night in hopes that I do show up." He spread his mandibles into a large smile.

Her eyes widened and her cheeks started to redden. She nervously giggled, took a moment to gather her thoughts. And then she sat up and cleared her throat.

"I take my job very seriously, Mr. Qu'in. I pride myself on making sure my customers are seen to in a timely manner," in spite of her firm, confident voice, she started to fiddle with one of the copious amounts of napkins resting on her tray.

"Is that so?" He finished his first drink, set it on the table and sat up as well. Atemisk leaned his elbows on the table and watched Christina, awaiting her reply.

"Yes," she said, looking down. "Do not think that you get special treatment, Mr. Qu'in. I go above and beyond for all our patrons." She seemed to really emphasize his last name this time. She was starting to tear bits away from the napkin in her hands. And she was making damn sure not to look in his direction. She was getting nervous. Precious. Atemisk enjoyed making her squirm. Both locked in battles of the wits and on the rare occasions in the bedroom.

He chuckled. A low and deep rumble emanating from his throat. Christina tried to stifle a shiver, but Atemisk caught it. He chuckled again, his dual tones seemed to have quite the effect on her tonight. He leaned in close to her ear and she nearly melted.

"Are you sure I'm not special?" His voice resonated. He slid closer to her, making the tiny hairs on her arm stand up. "That's certainly not what you were saying before I left a few weeks ago," he teased with a sly suggestive grin. He reached for his second glass and leaned back. Awaiting for the memories of their last intimate liasion to wash over her. She had been quite generous that day, in fact. She had showed him just how special he was, indeed. She didn't even wait until they got to his place. The very second the sky car's door closed she was on him tearing his clothes off.

Her face turned a deep shade of red, even underneath all the caked on makeup. She quickly stood from the seat, removed his remaining drinks from her tray with lightning fast efficiency that would put any gun assembler to shame. And floated back through the crowd. Not once sparing a glance back at him.

Atemisk laughed a deep and hearty laugh. She was so easy to make nervous. He could make her panties wet with only the sound of his voice. And he reveled in that. He could still smell her arousal some thirty minutes after she'd left. It seemed to linger around his booth. He had to admit that the smell was starting to get to him. It was beginning to cause his lower plates to shift. He needed some stress release fast. He had gotten so caught up in his little game with Christina, he'd lost sight of the prize he had had his sights set on. His eyes scanned the room for her to no avail. She'd disappeared. "Damn," he muttered, before finishing off his second glass of Ryncol. He reached for his third glass, and leaned back against the cushions again.

He might as well finish the rest of the drinks Christina had so graciously prepared for him, before he leaves. He chuckled at the thought of her anticipating his arrival.  
She was a very generous lover, no doubt. And he almost had the nerve to take her home again. But he couldn't. Christina had become too attached to him. He didn't want to hurt the poor girl. But she wanted a lot more than what he was willing to offer. He could still remember the look of hurt on her face the second time he had rejected her. To her credit, she played it off fairly well. She giggled and waved her hand dismissively saying that she was only joking. But he'd seen the look of utter adoration in her eyes just moments before the pain washed over her features. Try as she might to hide it, he knew the look all too well.  
"She" had given him the same look seven years ago..

He shook himself from his musings and opened up his omni-tool.  
He still had two more drinks to finish. So he might as well get a little work done in the meantime. With any luck, he may even find someone else to take home tonight. While it wasn't what he'd come here for, it was better than nothing at all.

With his fifth and final drink finished, Atemisk placed his glass on the table.  
He sighed a contented sigh at the burning sensation running down his throat. It had been far too long since his last drink, so he relished them when he could. Atemisk may not be what was considered a normal turian, but he was through and through, a professional. He refused to drink while on a job. Under a guise or not. It decreased his reaction time and accuracy.  
Both very vital aspects in the jobs he undertook.

Since the fall of the Reapers some odd twenty years ago, the galaxy has seen the largest modicum of peace since the relays were constructed. Not a fact taken lightly. Shepard had ushered in a new era of equality for all races. And for that, the human woman had Atemisk's undying respect. His great great grandfather had played a part in the undertaking of Shanxi. So one would think the hatred for humananity would have remained. But Atemisk's father was, surprisingly enough, about as open minded about other races as Atemisk was. And with his mother being Asari, she wholly encouraged his curiosity.

He thought of his mother and instantly regretted not going to visit her first.  
He loved his mother dearly, but he still felt an inkling of regret when he looked at her.  
He'd let her down, and while she had forgiven him, he hadn't forgiven himself. It'd been seven years. But he'd never allow himself the luxury of letting it go.  
Atemisk sighed and looked down at the time on his omni-tool. 22:05.  
He supposed it wasn't too late to at the very least send her a message saying that he was on the Citadel.

He finished up his reports and opened up his messages.  
He started typing a message to his mother, hesitated, and then deleted it. He tried again and again. But nothing he typed sounded good enough. So he closed the message and leaned forward onto the table. Nothing he typed would make up for nearly two months of radio silence. His mother had known that he was on an assignment. She'd understood. Unlike his father, she'd always been understanding and proud of his career choice. He thought of the day he told his mother what he finally wanted to do. Her dazzling smile had nearly blinded him. She had wrapped him up in the tightest hug and nearly cried. He could still feel the thousand kisses she had placed on his plated face that day.

He purred in happiness at the memory. He loved his mother. She'd been so supportive of him and he couldn't even take the time to send her the occasional message to let her know he was still alive. He was such a bad son. He took a deep breath, gained some courage and opened up his messages again.  
He started typing. He wasn't sure what route to take. So he just settled for being straight forward.

To: Mother  
From: Atemisk  
Subject: Still alive! 

Too dark a joke? No matter. I'm finished with my assignment and have some time before my next mission. I was wondering if you were free tomorrow afternoon for lunch?

-Atemisk

He sent off the message, released the breath he didn't realize he was holding and relaxed against the cushion. He wasn't sure if his mother was awake. But she'd reply the instant she read his message. If it wasn't for the sole fact of him being a turian, no one would have ever guessed that she was technically not his biological mom. She was the perfect example of what every step mother should strive to be. Supportive, caring, kind and always there when you needed her to be. And at times, often when you didn't. The times when you were up to something stupid. He smiled at that.

The music was loud and thrummed throughout the enitre club. It sounded slightly electronic mixed with new age. It certainly wasn't Atemisk's type of music. But he didn't come here for the music. He looked around at the dancers and still no sign of Alesshi. Her shift might be over already. No matter. Plenty of other women here tonight. But he'd wait a couple more minutes for his mother to reply before he decided on a woman to pursue tonight.  
The pinging of his omni-tool brought him out of his thoughts. His mother had replied to him. He opened up the message and instantly smiled.

To: Atemisk  
From: Mother  
Subject: RE: Still alive!

Yes. Of course! They've just opened several new restaraunts on the Presidium I've been waiting to try out. It is so good to hear from you, dove! I assume all went well. Tell me what happened! Well, maybe not all of it. Skip the gory bits and tell me how you saved the day!  
Also, you don't have to sign your name at the bottom. I know my own son.  
Unless you need to constantly remind yourself of your own name due to your carelessness of protecting your head. In which case, continue, dove. 

Atemisk immeidately started typing a reply.

To: Mother  
From: Atemisk  
Subject: RE: RE: Still Alive!

Well you are getting up there in years, mother. Just making sure you remember who I am.  
Sounds good. Pick wherever you'd like. Most of the mercs got away. And we only apprehended one. But we intercepted the red sand and no one got hurt. So technically still considered a success! I'll tell you about everything tomorrow. Gory bits included.  
You can't expect me to leave out my shining moments!

He elatedly sent off his witty reply. He and his mother took several light hearted jabs at one another. It was their thing and he had missed it dearly. His omni-tool pinged almost instantly after he sent his reply off.

To: Atemisk  
From: Mother  
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Still Alive!

I'm so proud of you! Alright. Meet me in the presidium by Avina tomorrow a 13:00, IF you can still remember where that is.

Atemisk laughed and began typing yet another witty response when he felt a weight shift next to him. He looked up to find a rather beautiful, if not a tad sweaty Alesshi sitting next to him. His eyes widened and his mandibles twitched in sudden nervousness. She smelled a mixture of sweat, metal, and alcohol. A mixture he'd become quite familiar with considering his own lifestyle. He also smelled her arousal. Alcohol seemed to do that to most women, he'd realized.

Seconds passed by and not one word was said. Alesshi just sat there with her large blue eyes staring up at him with that same cute smile plastered on her face. Atemisk was not expecting to see her tonight. He had become so immersed in his conversation with his mother that he had even forgotten where he was. To his surprise, he was not prepared for this conversation.


	2. Chapter 2

More seconds passed and not one word was said. Alesshi, the ever patient person she was, just waited. Atemisk closed his omni-tool and finally gathered up what little face he could save.

"Alesshi," he finally stated. "Apologies. I just got caught up in some paperwork. The boring part of any job."

"I noticed," she purred with her velvety voice. "I also saw you speaking with Christina," she nodded in the direction of the bar, where Christina now resided. "Did you not want to watch me dance?" She pouted melodramatically and crossed her arms.

Atemisk chuckled. "But I was watching. I thought it'd be more respectful if I stayed back here."

"Respectful?" She cocked her head to the side curiously. He adored when she did that.

The human girl used to do the same head tilt. Mostly when her translator glitched and neglected to translate his turian words into her native human tongue. There had been many a time when they had to point at objects to communicate with each other due to her translator's malfunctions. While their little point and name game was fun, its novelty wore off fairly quickly when they were in the middle of a serious conversation. Eventually, Atemisk opted to simply buy her a new one. He could still remember how her face lit up the day he surprised her with it.

Atemisk silently chided himself for both thinking of her, and also for comparing Alesshi to that stubborn human girl. She was gone and had been for seven years now. She seemed to have had no difficulty adjusting to a life without him. Now he needed to do the same and forget about her.

"Yes," he said, quickly recovering from his train of thought. "If I'd sat up there, your eyes would have been drawn to me. Thus shattering all the hopes and dreams of the young ladies and gentlemen in attendance here tonight that have their hearts set on you," he stated.

"Hm. Is that so?" She giggled. "And what exactly makes you think I'd be watching you so intently? I have customers to meet the needs of. I don't have the time to appease just one, Atemisk. You should have just come to watch me while you had the chance," she stated matter of factly.

Atemisk chuckled. "Deny it all you like, miss T' kelas, but this seems to be really upsetting you. If it makes you feel better, I'll pay you for a private dance. Would that suffice?"

"Hmm," she put a blue hand underneath her chin and thought. "I suppose it would make up for it."

Atemsik opened his omni-tool to transfer the funds, when a blue hand went to stop it.  
He looked up to see Alesshi mere inches from his face. His madibles tiwtched.  
She scooted closer and leaned in enough for him to feel the warmth of her breath on his plates.

"This one's on me if you promise that your eyes will stay on me the entire time.  
I mean, you came here for me and not Christina, right?" She looked up at him with a slight look of sadness donning her features. Had he known that she were the jealous type, he would have used this tactic long ago.

"Free, huh? Don't let any of your other clients find out," Atemisk teased. Alesshi smiled and playfully shoved him aside. She slowly climbed on top of his table, made a show of slowly rising and began sensually ginding her blue ass against the pole. Alesshi was voluptuous and beautiful. Her blue breasts bounced with every move she made. He didn't understand why so many aliens had such reluctance to accept breasts. Many turians hardly even noticed them. But Atemisk had welcomed them with open arms. They were soft pieces of flesh that a lot of women enjoyed being licked or even sometimes bit. And Atemisk loved to both lick and bite. So they both got pleasure out of it. Best of both worlds.

Alesshi had an impressive figure too. Her frame a tad small, but with an hourglass figure. Her light blue skin reminded him of the holographic sky here on the citadel. She had freckles similar to Christina's, only instead of orange, they were a dark shade of blue. And unlike Christina's, Alesshi's freckles remained only on her cheeks. She was barely past two hundred. So Alesshi was still, by Asari standards, young. He supposed it would be in equivalance to when he was around twenty-one, twenty-two. So, being the young adult Alesshi was, she would often dye her tentacles different colors. Today it was a vibrant hot pink. He enjoyed her lively personality. It was a refreshing change fom the every day drear of people he had to tolerate professionally. Alesshi also had very large, doe-like blue eyes, which granted her a very innocent look. Yet here she was gyrating her hips in circles only a couple of feet from his face. Atemisk's plates started shifting again. It'd been far too long since he'd shared a bed with someone.

Ten minutes later and Alesshi was still twirling her buxom figure on his platform. Atemisk's body was slowly losing patience. He enjoyed the view, no doubt. But he was well past the visual foreplay and was ready for the main course. As if she'd heard his thoughts, Alesshi turned and gracefully dropped down into a squatted position. She slowly opened her thighs, and granted Atemisk a very generous view between her legs. With only a very small amount of fabric blocking her warmth, nothing was left to the imagination. Alesshi smiled a large proud smile at him. As though she were thanking him for the compliment of enjoying her half naked form.

She started crawling towards him. And only then did he realize how pathetic he probably looked in her eyes. He was leaning forward and nearly on the edge of his seat. His breathing a bit sporadic and eyes nearly falling out of their sockets. He needed to gain some composure. She was finally showing some semblance of interest in him tonight and he was acting like a hormonal teenager who just saw his first pair of tits. He collected himself and casually leaned back, regaining a shred of his usually casual demeanor. He could not allow himself to go without sex this long again! His behaviour tonight was nothing short of embarassing. He had women fawning over him, not the other way around!

Alesshi, still crawling on her hands and kness, made her way towards him. "Enjoying the view, My. Qu'in?" She licked her lips enticingly. "Mmm," his dual voice rumbled in his throat. "I am. But I think I'd enjoy a more closer view," he challenged. He'd challenged her many times before, and she'd always found a way out from underneath his witty reverse psychology. But today she willingly accepted it. She climbed down from his table and straddled him, making sure her warmth never made complete contact with his lower, ever increasingly shifting plates.

"Is this the close encounter you were desiring, Mr. Qu'in?" She asked, more rhetorically than an actual question. He met her gaze with a sexual challenge. She surprisingly didn't back down and met his predatory eyes with a challenging gaze of her own. Atemisk was all about challenges. He loved to prove people wrong. Not only was it a part of his personality, it was his very culture! Turians were a very proud race. They did not surrender, and win or lose, they did not back down! And this time was no different.

Alesshi's face was down, but her eyes looking up through her long lashes, making her look even more seductive. It'd been almost minutes of unflinching stillness. Both awaiting the other's first move. He wanted Alesshi. No doubt. But his pride was at stake here. And if he succumbed to her now, that would be the way she'd perceive him from that day forth. No. He would wait for her.

"Hm. I'm quite impressed with your self retraint, Mr. Qu'in. Such a gentleman," she gave him that adorable smile of hers and traced up and down the back of Atemisk's fringe.

Atemisk chuckled a tad darkly. "So Christina tells me," he realized that it was a low blow. But his resolve was weakening, and his lower plates were about at their breaking point. Alesshi's eyes widened. Her smile evaporated in an instant and was replaced with an almost menacing glare. He was beginning to regret his words. He hadn't realized the depth of animosity growing between the two women. Alesshi pushed herself off of him. Shit. Now she's mad. Atemisk was about to reach out to stop her from walking away when she bent down and grabbed him by both of his arms and hauled him up. Alesshi leaned into him, her bare breasts pressing up against him. She rested her blue hands against his chest.

"Christina, huh?" She asked, with a look of determination in her eyes.

Atesmisk had no time for a witty response. Alesshi gave him no time. She was dragging him through the crowd and leading him to the back of the club. It seemed as though every pair of eyes were on them that instant. Atemisk reveled in the spotlight. He'd earned it. Alesshi was quite the prize. She had been playing the hard to get game since he'd met her almost a year ago. He was certainly no quitter, his pride was far too substantial. However he knew when to gracefully bow down and walk away. That had nothing to do with pride. That was just common sense. And that time was starting to near. Until tonight.

Alsesshi led him through several sets of doors into what he assumed were the dancer's changing rooms. The owner seemed to spare no expense for the ladie's comfort. The room was covered in a passion frenzy of red luxury. Red silk curtains, red stools, red carpet. And nearly all of it had a golden trim. Not to mention the vanity. The vanity spanned the length of the entire left side of the room and held an ample supply of makeup, brushes, holo jewelry, and more. It looked like a futuristic version of an old western brothel. Wait. Why did the spirits did he know what a brothel was?

"Impressive," he stated. Alesshi looked back at him and grinned. "You think this is impressive? Just wait," and she made a show enticingly licking her lips for him. She led him behind one of the curtains and the second it was pulled to, she was on him. She all but leapt at him. He caught her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She pressed her lips to his mouth in an uncomfortable kiss.

He never understood the need for humans and asari alike to "kiss". How was this considered affection? You just smashed your mouths together. There was no pleasure in it. It was, in his opinion, utterly absurd! But for the sake of preserving the moment he'd been working so hard for, he tolerated it. She, to his relief, moved from their awkward mouth mashup to licking his throat. Now this, he enjoyed. She ran her nails up the back of his neck to his fringe. He let out a growl of pleasure and started nibbling at her shoulder. She let out a gasp.

His plates lost their control and his member was unsheathed from its dwelling. Alesshi must have felt it, because not soon after she hopped down and started unbuckling his clothing.  
He watched her dexterous hands remove his pants, revealing his member completely. She started stroking it at an almost professional level. Atemisk started growling low and steady.  
His control was impressive tonight. Turians were a very primal species. They did not usually take things slow. But for now, he would go at her pace. At that thought, Alesshi placed her mouth on the tip of him and started licking. Atemisk let out a moan. If he hadn't known better he'd think she had the ability of telepathy. Alesshi had started making her way down the shaft and started sucking, drool slowly dripping from her blue lips. "Sprits", Atemisk exclaimed. It'd been far too long.

Atemisk pulled her up from her knees and albeit a little roughly, slammed her against the wall. She moaned. Good sign. He ran his talons up her hips to her rib cage and eventually her breasts. He grabbed a handful and squeezed. Another moan escaped her lips. She liked rough. And for that, he was entirely grateful. He was tired of slow. There was no fun in slow. Slow sex was incorprorated with romance and Atemisk would have none of that. That was the very reason he had stopped bringing home Christina. He had no place for romance in his life. He did not want it. Atemisk started playing with her nipples and they began to harden. He looked up at her face and he swore that if asari were able to blush, she'd be as red as the lights of Omega.

He took a bud into his mouth and she let out a moan. Atemisk held her breast with one hand and allowed his other to roam her body. He slid his hand down to the wet spot between her legs and started rubbing. She let out another moan. Atemisk let go of her breast and forced her eyes to look at him.

"Tell me what you want", he demanded. Alsesshi's eyes had glossed over and she was fighting the urge to turn away from his heated gaze, he could see it. Clearly some part of her shyness remained. "I ..I..", she stuttered. "Just do whatever you want", she said turning away from him. Atemisk chuckled. "You could not handle what I want", he stated matter of factly.  
What he had honestly meant as a warning, she took as a challenge. Her eyes shot back at his with utter determination in them. All shyness gone. She was clearly ready and willing to prove him wrong. His mandibles twitched in excitement. "I can handle whatever you throw my way, Mr. Qu'in", she stated confidently. He smiled a large turian grin, exposing his sharp teeth. He'd basically been given permission to do what he pleased. And he damn well sure was going to do so.

His hand went to her breast again and her bud returned to his mouth. His tongue rotating around it. His other talon had found its way back to her opening and without waitng for her permission, he shoved it inside her. Her eyes widened and she gripped the back of his fringe. He pulled his talon out and thrusted it right back in. Alesshi's breathing was becoming sporadic. He could hear her erratic heartbeat. It seemed as though she'd never been finger fucked before. He grinned at her inexperience. Oh yes. Tonight was going to be a good night, for sure. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Harder, harder, harder, harder, harder", Alesshi screamed in rapid succession.  
Atemisk was impressed with her resilience. Most women weren't able to handle his dominant side. He had his way with her on the floor, against the wall and now he had her bent over on the vanity, granting him a very pleasing view of her breasts bouncing with every thrust. Atemsik digged his sharp talons into her soft hips and did what the lady asked. He pushed in harder and even deeper with every thrust. Alesshi's nails were nearly embedding themselves in the countertop.

Thrust, thrust, thrust, thrust.  
Atesmisk growled a loud and primal growl. He was almost at his finishing point.  
Thrust, thrust, thrust, thrust.  
"Embr-.. ace", she stuttered. "Emb-..emb-...fuck", she could barely get any words out in between her ragged breathing. Atemisk took it as a compliment. His mandibles widended with over egotistcial pride.

"What's the matter, Alesshi? I thought you could handle me", Atemisk teased.

She looked at his reflection in the mirror and smiled. "I don't have.. have.. ugh! Shut up and just fuck me!"

Atemisk laughed and again did what the lady asked. He thrusted into her at a rapid pace.  
He watched her breasts bounce in the mirror again and took one hand off of her hips to squeeze them. She gasped. She watched his reflection. Something about her watching him made him even more turned on. So much so it nearly sent him over the edge. So he slowed his pace to make sure she got her's first. That apparentally gave her enough time to catch her breath because the very next second her eyes had turned black and the words "Embrace eternity" shot from her mouth.

The next thing he knew his entire body was covered in pleasure. As though his mind was sending oxytocin to every inch of his body. He saw Alesshi through the blurry veil of pleasure. Her eyes were black, but looked as though you could see the entire galaxy through them. She was sending his brain through this pleasure frenzy. The asari were an amazing race. They posessed the ability to enter someone else's mind and give them such a substantial amount of knowledge or pleasure through just overly evolved brain waves. Simply amazing, he thought. He could see why so many races enjoyed the asari. He wasn't sure if he could even go back to turians after tonight.

To that, Alesshi smiled. Wait. He was sure he hadn't said those words out loud. Alesshi giggled. 'She can hear what I'm thinking', he thought.' She can literally see everything inside my head'. He tried to stop himself. But all he could think of were the things he didn't want her or anyone else to see. And to that, Alesshi cocked her head to the side and smiled. She put either hand on the sides of his turian head and closed her eyes. She was trying to read his memories. He tried to move, but couldn't. His body was trapped by a never ending fountain of pleasure. He was at the mercy of Alesshi right now. And all he could do was hope that he posessed the mental strength to prevent her from opening the shadowed doors of his memories that he'd locked away so long ago.

There wasn't much he had to hide. Hell, before tonight, he didn't think he'd need to hide his own memories from prying eyes. To be fairly honest, under normal circumstances it was nothing. To anyone else, it would be nothing. But this was HIS past. She had no right to intrude the halls of his memories.

At the very least Alesshi was very gentle while opening the metaphorical doors.  
She saw an asari woman with gentle, violet eyes. She had red markings in stark contrast to her lovely blue features. The same markings Atemisk donned on his brown face plates. His mother, she presumed. Alesshi smiled at the love she saw his mother give him throughout his life. And she saw the love he held for his mother. It bubbled at the very center of this memory. She closed this memory and opened another. She saw a young Atemisk crying in his room on the floor rubbing medigel on his arms. She felt the pain emnating from his body. He was in absolute agony. He'd broken a few ribs and tore a many number of muscles. His sobs were soft and quiet, lest someone hear them. She felt the horrendous pain and nearly cried herself. The door to his room had opened, and Atemisk quickly wiped his eyes. His young pained faced had gone stoic in a matter of moments.

Alesshi closed the memory. She walked further, delved deeper into the abyss of his mind. Alesshi saw a young and very frail looking Atemisk. His father pushing him to his limits during drills. Even so, she felt the happiness Atemisk had felt when he garnered his father's attention, even when his body was going beyond what any child's should. Alesshi frowned and immediately closed that memory, to which he was thankful. She opened several other memories and while unhappy with it, the increased pleasure he was receiving almost made up for her nosiness. 

Alesshi continued going from memory to memory and Atemisk was wondering when she would have her fill. He was ready to finish this and leave. Almost an hour had gone by when she finally came across a vast area of his brain he had all but sealed off. Understandable with the amount of pain she felt emanating from it. She attempted to open it, but Atemisk had had enough of her violating the privacy of his mind. He growled and tried to push her out. Alesshi was taken aback; now she was even more curious. She struggled to push back his resistance, but he finally succmbed to her. This door contained a whole room full of other doors. Each containing their own painful memory. It seemed like he was really trying to repress this part of his life. 

Atemisk was furious! How dare she intrude upon this part of him?! It was one thing to go through memories that were easily accessible, memories he'd been reluctant to show, but tolerated. But it was entirely different when she tried to open doors obviously restricted!Atemisk gathered what mental resistance he could and pushed her out. She was not expecting him to put up such a fight. Clearly this was quite painful for him. She hesitated. She almost felt bad, but her curiosity had over taken her moral compass. Alesshi's eyes shot open and Atemisk's resolve crumbled, the pleasure had ceased and pain was slowly overtaking.

Atesmisk was sitting on a bench in front of the Presidium. He was a few years older, fifteen, maybe. He appeared to be waiting for someone. Apart from the physical changes, there was something different about him, Alesshi gathered. The sadness that she'd felt residing inside of him in all other memories was gone. He had a modicum of peace dwelling inside him. A calm and casual air encompassed him now. He was much taller too; no longer small and fragile looking, he had filled out his body. His mandibles were longer now, as was his fringe.

He was leaned back against the bench, legs crossed at the ankle and surrounded by data pads. He'd type madly on one in between reading the others, and then occasionally check his omni-tool. Studying perhaps, Alesshi thought. A few minutes passed and whomever he was waiting for had finally come out of the building. A small, albeit a little rotund, human girl. She posessed a light colored complexion. As though someone put one drop of cream too many in their coffee. She also had rebelliously curly, black hair that clearly refused to be tamed. She had a round and somewhat plump face. Despite the bit of extra weight, the human was quite well endowed to be so young. Her body had developed far too soon. She'd grow out of her baby fat and fill in to her figure as she got older. But the universe had done her no favors by blessing her with it now. All the same, she was an adorable girl. Aside from the large, prominent scar across the bridge of her nose.

The girl wore a large blue N7 jacket. Alesshi gathered it belonged to one of her parents, seeing as how she couldn't be older than the age of fourteen, fifteen. And the fact that it had to be about two sizes too big. The girl walked down the length of the Presidium bridge. She slowed her pace and hesitantly looked around. Atemisk looked once more at his omni-tool, and turned to see the young human girl standing a few feet away. His mandibles spread into a smile, and Alesshi could feel the rush of happiness bubbling from within him. He quickly put away his data pads, stood and walked to her. The girl stopped her search and shifted her gaze towards the approaching turian with a cautious glare displayed across her face. Clearly Atemisk's sudden growth spurt had made the girl mistake him for a stranger. He waved and realization finally made its way to her brain. Her eyes had nearly fallen out of their sockets. She sprinted towards him and when only a few feet separated them, she leapt at him. Atemisk held out his arms and caught her with ease. They embraced in their hug for longer than what Alesshi was comfortable with. When he finally placed her down she stepped back and smiled wide.

She let her gaze drop from his face down to his torso. The girl started to circle him like a Varren and it's prey, assessing Atemisk's newly filled carapace. "Holy crap! I didn't even recognize you", she exclaimed. "You're so", she weighed the correct word to use, "..different. You're so tall now! You look like.. an adult." She'd scrunched her nose at the word 'adult'.  
Atemisk chuckled. "Now I'm certain that was meant as a compliment. So I'll let it go," he teased. His dual tones -much deeper now, vibrated in the little space between them.

"Turians grow faster than humans", he stated matter of factly and put a hand on her head. "It's okay to be the less than adequate species. Your kind will evolve some day", his mandibles spread into a large turian grin. At that she swatted his hand away. "Well, let's see", he started, as he mimicked her earlier movement and moved to study her. Her head following him the entire time. "Nope. Sorry. I don't see a difference. Pity you're still small and squishy", he finally said after his examination. She playfully shoved him again. "You're such an ass", she giggled.

Their laughter slowly subsided and Atemisk's smile softened. He lifted his hand back up to her head, only this time, to twirl a strand of her unruly hair around his talon. She seemed accustomed to the touch. "Alright. So maybe there's one difference, your fringe has grown quite a bit", his dual toned voice soft and low. The girl's hair fell a little past her ears. Even Alesshi knew it was called 'hair'. She had had her fair share of human partners, men and women alike. But the small human girl never seemed to correct him. In fact she seemed all too delighted to accept the cultural difference. Alesshi could feel a swirling mixture of both fondness and uncertainty spreading through Atemisk. He was internally battling himself regarding this girl. About what, Alesshi could not distinguish. It was all too erratic for her to pinpoint.

The asari woman could not feel what the human girl was feeling. After all, this was Atemisk's memory. But for the first time since their reunion, the human had nothing to say. No witty remark. No sarcastic reply. No playful shoving. She just happily watched him immerse himself in the strand of her hair. Atemisk let the strand fall and rejoin the rest. He turned his eyes to the girl's face and scanned its entirety. He was immensely keen on this girl. His steel grey eyes came to rest on the scar on her nose and just as quickly as it had appeared, his turian smile had evaporated. The human girl tilted her head to the side with an inquiring look in her eyes. As though the look alone asked the question for her. Atemisk shook his head and responded, "It's nothing", and looked away. The overwhelming feeling of happiness Alesshi had originally felt from Atemisk was quickly replaced by intense feelings of guilt and shame.

The human girl's face was painted with worry. But she let the matter drop. In an attempt to bring back the previously joyful mood, she changed the subject. "Soooo... hungry?" She tilted her head at him again. Atemisk looked back at her, the smile returning to his turian face. "Starving, actually", the undertones of his dual toned voice flanging again in happiness. "The swill they pass as food is probably what they fuel their ships with as well", he chuckled.  
"Good. While we eat you can tell me all about how you got your ass kicked in boot camp."  
At that she smiled and began dragging him towards the Wards section of the citadel. Her smile had been small and barely noticeable. But it had hit Atemisk just as hard as a charging Krogan.

"And I may have some news of my own to share," she said as she spared once last glance back at the embassies.

-

Alesshi was jealous. Who exactly was this human girl? Alesshi was mad for allowing herself to become so jealous. This was his PAST. Everyone had a past. Plus, it's not like they were intimate with each other. They seemed to be only friends. 'But.. the way he looked at her', she thought. He adored the girl, but she could feel the uncertainty dwelling inside of him. 'They weren't bond mates. They were just close friends', she recited over and over trying to quell her irrational jealousy. Alesshi sighed. No matter how many pep talks she could give herself, it wouldn't help. She wasn't proud of this, but she wanted to know who that girl was. At the very least her name, and if she were still an important fragment in his life. She needed to.

Alesshi opened and closed every part of him she could get her hands on. Every painful piece of his past that he'd been trying so hard to leave behind. He didn't want to relive this. It was closed for a reason. He needed to get her out of his brain.

Alesshi pushed further into the room and stopped at an enigma emitting a fear like Alesshi had never known. 'What could Atemisk possibly be afraid of', she asked herself. Once again, her curiosity had gotten the best of her and pushed herself past the last bit of his resistance and opened it.

-

A younger Atemisk's eyes opened slowly. He felt a slight stinging pain in the plates on his face. He was lying flat on his back and 'she' was over him shouting. 'The same human girl', Alesshi thought. She was significantly younger here. Much smaller, and her hair wasn't nearly as long as the previous memory. However, Alesshi noted the lack of scar across her nose.

Both of the girl's hands were next to either side of Atemisk's head. For the love of spirits he couldn't make out what the hell she was shouting. But she looked frantic. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide and filled with terror. Her face and clothes were covered in dirt and there were leaves and grass littered throughout her curly, black hair. He tried to move. But his body felt heavy. He struggled to raise his head enough to see the cause of the added weight. His armor. He was wearing his Talons' armor. Wait. 'She' was here seeing him in his armor. What the hell was going on? He looked to his left, just dirt and trees. He turned his head to the right. A hill? 'We're at the bottom of a hill', he thought. He looked back to her as though seeing her face would help him recall the events that led them here.

She was looking around. Distress painted over her young features. Atemisk tried to focus on her words but all he could hear was ringing in his ears. Her fear was slowly turning into angry impatience. His eyelids were becoming increasingly heavy. They kept threatening to shut. She seemed to give up on the understanding gentle approach to rousing him and turned to the painful route. The last thing he saw before his eyelids closed was her pulling one arm back. A few seconds later her hand, or what he can only assume was her hand, connected with his face in a painful exchange.

"OUCH!" He shouted. His body shot up at that. His hands went to soothe the place she'd slapped. He let a low warning growl pass his vocals. She held up her hands defensively. Her brows furrowed, and her eyes laced with sincere regret.

"I'm sorry", she said. At least the ringing was gone, he noted. He could finally hear again.  
She looked around. "But I needed to get you up. Nothing else was working! We need to go. NOW!" She stood up, got behind him and pushed him to his feet. He stumbled at first but she held on to ensure he was steady before she let go.

"Wha- what's going on?" He asked, anxiously. The flanging of his voice far more high pitched back then. But then he was only a child. Barely eleven.

She looked back up the hill. "I'll explain on the way. But we need to leave. Like, right now", urgency thick in her voice. She grabbed his three fingered hand and led him away from the hill. She spared one last glance behind them and led him further into the thicket of trees. Atemisk trusted her judgment and let himself be led. He couldn't for spirits sake remember what happened or how they had gotten there. But he trusted her. She was his best friend after all.

Alesshi wasn't sure what happened or how, but her brain was throbbing and she was laying on the ground flat on her back several feet away from a seething turian. Her eyes widened. Atemisk was fuming. The growl stemming from his throat was the polar opposite from the intimate growl she was hearing in her ears earlier. She slowly got to her feet and reached for the nearest article of clothing to cover herself, suddenly embarrassed of her stark nakedness.

"Atemisk", she started. "I .. I'm so sorry. I realize there's absolutely nothing I can say to you right now to pardon my actions. But I ju-", Atemisk cut her off mid sentence with a loud menacing growl. Alesshi flinched and took several steps back. It took her several long moments to gather the courage to finish her apology. "I just.. if I'm being honest with you, I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to know you. You've been coming to see me for almost a year now and outside of your job I don't know a thing about you!" She reluctantly met his infuriated avian eyes. She licked her suddenly dry lips nervously. "I .. I'm sorry", she looked down ashamed.

"You just seemed so open with Christina. Telling her when you were leaving and even going so far as to taking her home with you on a few occasions. I just don't understand why you're so open with her yet so emotionally distant with me! I just wanted to know more about you", her voice started to shake and tears began to well up in her eyes.

So that was where their hostility had originated from. But Atemisk couldn't lie. He had been a tad more open with Christina. But if he were being honest with himself, he hadn't intended to. It'd just been a rough day at work and he'd had one drink too many. Christina had just, luckily enough for her, been the one to serve his drinks that night. Thus resulting in waking up to her next to him in his bed the next morning. But all the same, Christina hadn't forced him to share with her. She was just an easy person to talk to. She sat and listened. She waited for you to be ready to talk to her. While, underneath that sweet facade of hers, Alesshi was just controlling and pushy. She had been a mistake. Atemisk just chalked it up as another lesson learned. He looked down at his naked body. She had put him through so much mental pain that his member had retreated back into its sheath.

He let out an aggravated sigh and ran his talons against the top of his fringe. In the end, he never got to finish and now he was just cranky at that fact alone. Not to mention the increasingly growing headache that was starting to surface. Atemisk looked down at the time on his omni-tool. It was already 23:57. Definitely too late to take up the task of pursuing another woman for tonight. He was too tired. So Atemisk opted for just going home and passing out on the closest piece of furniture he could find. He looked around for his clothes.

To her credit, Alesshi had the decency to leave him be to dress. He did however, notice her watching him. He could smell her getting aroused all over again. But he knew better this time. He quickly finished buckling his shirt and walked out without sparing her a parting glance. The club was packed more now than when he had come in. The music was pounding and grating on his nerves. He needed to leave now. He made his way through the crowd of people to the entrance. He noticed Christina wave at his departure, he halfheartedly waved back and continued out of the building. He'd make up for his lackluster goodbye to Christina another time. Right now he needed to get some sleep. Tonight had not been the night he'd been anticipating and he could all but guarantee he wouldn't be getting much sleep later on either.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello ladies and gents. This chapter may be a tad dry. I'm not all that excited about it, but I'm still proud of my punctuality. The next one will give you a little more insight into his past and what not. Possibly sex? We'll see, my lovelies. So without further adieu...***

Atemisk was pulled from his haze of sleep by an obnoxiously sharp noise. His omni-tool was pinging, signaling an incoming call. Eyes still closed, he silenced the obtrusive device. He isn't proud of how that display of muscle memory came to be. But it was a useful trick. He opened his avian eyes slowly, one at a time, attempting to adjust his eyes to the artificial light peaking through the windows. He sat up from the couch and immediately regretted the decision. His head was pounding due to the five glasses of Ryncol and the joining with Alesshi. The memory alone was enough to make a low growl radiate from his throat. He was still furious. She had invaded his brain and acted like an envious ex-girlfriend. Atemisk was above petty revenge. But a small part of him wanted her to feel the pain he was feeling right now. Maybe he would pay a visit to Christina. A sly turian grin formed on his face and just as quickly, faded. No. He couldn't do that to Christina. She was a sweet girl. Plus he didn't want to mislead her any more than he'd already had. No. He'd just have to move past this and completely avoid fucking any more crazy ass asari.

Atemisk stood up slowly, hand rubbing his head in an attempt to soothe the pounding and grabbed his shirt from off the couch. He went to the kitchen to find any sort of food he could find. He was rarely here, so more than likely if anything was there it'd be spoiled. He opened the fridge- and not to his surprise, he found nothing. He let out a sigh and closed the fridge.

He didn't feel like having a conversation before he could clear the scratchy dry feeling in the back of his throat. He sighed again in resignation and hoped that he'd at least paid his water bill. He was hardly ever here, so he found no reason to pay the bills he didn't use. He placed his three fingered hand on the knob and silently prayed to the spirits that he'd thought to keep paying for water.

"Thank the spirits," he said to himself watching the running water flow from the faucet.

Not even bothering to receive a glass, he drank straight from the faucet. He had to have been there for several minutes. Ryncol always made him so thirsty the next morning. After a few more moments, he turned off the faucet and wiped what water remained on his face. A few drips dripping from his mandibles. Now that the dryness that could have rivaled the planet Ker had subsided, Atemisk opened his omni-tool to see whose call he'd ignored this time.

"Shit" was all he said and he rushed to the bathroom to shower and dress. If worth nothing else, the boot camp training his father forced him to attend had at least prepared him for fast yet efficient showering. He was in, out and dressed in the span of seven minutes. His mother, Nyxera, was a patient woman but he always felt like shit when ever he was tardy. Not to mention the fact that he'd been the one to plan their lunch date to begin with. Again, he was a bad son.

Atemisk looked around the Presidium commons searching for his mother. He spotted her fairly quickly seated at a table next to Apollo's cafe. His mandibles pulled in against his face and for the fourth time, not including the ride over here, he internally berated himself for being late. He made his way to her. She spotted him and waved. The moment Atemisk reached her table, he immediately started apologizing. "I'm so sorry. I completl-," she cut him off mid sentence and pulled him into a tight hug, to which he returned. Moments passed before she finally pulled herself away from him. When they did finally part, she gestured for Atemisk to sit down.

His mother was a beautiful dark blue with pink accents littered across her face. She wore Atemsisk's red clan markings to signify her devotion to his father, Caellius. Her floor length dress was equisite and probably too over dressed for a simple lunch in the commons. But she would probably categorize her outfit as casual. His mother was incredibly classy.

"I'm sorry I was late," he finally finished, while sitting.

"Don't worry about it, dove. I know you. How's the hangover?" She raised a pink eyebrow at him with a smile making its way to her blue lips.

"Not great," Atemisk chuckled. His mother returned the laugh. "The sooner you eat, the better you'll feel," she replied motherly as she picked up her holographic menu. Atemisk followed suit. They both sat in comfortable silence while deciding what to eat. A few minutes passed and Atemisk placed down his menu. His hangover worsening, he wasn't up for reading. He'd just ask the waiter to bring anything dextro based. Atemisk took in the scenic atmosphere. It'd been some time since his last visit here. It was nice. The commons was very busy today. Aliens of every race either rushing to get some food for their lunch break, or actually enjoying the ambiance. He hadn't realized the Presidium had updated the commons so nicely. He spent most of his time off the Citadel. And on the rare occasions he was here, he spent it down at Purgatory, Flux or the Darkstar Lounge. In all honesty, pretty much any bar he could find.

He was pulled from his musings by his mother. "Atemisk", she said, a hint of concern in her voice. "Have you decided what you want?" Atemisk looked to his left to find a blonde waitress awaiting his selection. "Oh. Apologies. I'll take anything you have that's dextro. Also a glass of water, if you don't mind", he finished it off with a wink and a flirtatious turian smile. The waitress blushed, nodded and went to put in their order. His mother looked to him, to the waitress and then back at him with a raised questioning eyebrow. "No, mother," Atemisk answered her question before it even left her lips. "Besides, she isn't my type," he finished. She let the matter drop and soon after mommy mode was activated.

"So, how have you been, little dove? Have you been eating? You look thinner. How long are you staying? Have you spoken to Tilus lately? What about Suli?"

Atemisk chuckled and answered every question she threw at him with habitual ease.

"About as well as one would expect. Yes, but I'm not sure if you could actually call the food 'nourishing'. I'm not sure yet. I haven't received any assignment updates lately. So that usually means there aren't any pressing matters to attend to. I spoke to Tilus before I went on my last assignment. As far as I could tell, he was doing well. Said he'd even met someone. I intended on speaking with him later today as well. Now Suli, that's another story. I haven't spoken with her for quite some time."

Nyxera's eyes laced themselves with worry. Atemsik met her eyes. "She's fine, mother. She's had the best training there is to offer. You trained her after all. You worry too much. Have more faith in your family." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"I do have faith in her," she released the breath she'd been holding. "You're right. Suli is fine. I'm sure she's just ..busy. When I was a justicar, I traveled to the ends of the galaxy. I understand how much time it takes away from your personal life," his mother forced a smile at him. And Atemisk had never felt so low. If this was the face she made every day because he just couldn't be bothered to send her a message, then he was the lowest of the low. Three of her children were militant. Well, two, technically. Atemisk wasn't considered a branch of the turian military. Not yet. But his job and the requirements certainly felt like it. He'd put his life on the line too many times to count. And he'd lost track of just how many close encounters he's had.

Since the fall of the Reapers, the galaxy had been in a state of repair for years. Some relays still remained untouched to this day. The Council's triage of every day problems ever increasing, they declared several ships serve to protect the smaller, less seen face of the interplanetary politics. The 'little guys' whose needs were overlooked due to the minuscule size their problems were as a whole. Such as small trade planets being attacked by slave traders, illegal drug operations or running low on food supplies. It may not sound glamorous to most. But Atemisk loved it. All the military help he could provide, without actually being in the military. He wasn't restricted by militant laws. Of course that didn't come close to the freedoms Spectres were given. But, he didn't want that kind of power anyway. Not to mention he got to travel all throughout the Terminus Systems. He'd even revisited Earth a few times.

Atemisk looked at his mother trying so hard to stay cheerful for him, he knew one way to cheer her up. But did it take every ounce of will power for him to ask. He internally sighed and fought the urge to just forget about it. But he swallowed his pride and asked anyway, "So, mom, how's dad?" His mother lit up instantly. It was almost worth the thirty minutes of rambling. Their food had arrived soon after he'd asked about his father. But his mother was so immersed in their conversation, she hadn't even touched her food. Nyxera loved her husband. So much so she'd donned his red crest markings. It was not unheard of for an asari to wholly accept their mate's culture. But rare to go so far as to tattoo their turian mate's crest markings upon their face. Atemisk's relationship with his father was still strained. But he occasionally messaged him, if only for his mother's sake.

Finally exhausting all topics to talk about regarding her mate, Nyxera asked the one she'd been dying to but also hesitant to ask. She waited for Atemisk to start chewing his food before she asked. It gave her more time to watch the process of emotions pass over his plated face and feel the aura emanate from him. She'd have her true answer before he could even open his mouth.

"How is Krystal?"

Atemisk all but choked. His mother knew what had become of them, yet here she was asking this. And so bluntly as well. He took his time chewing, trying to think of an answer to placate her with, with at least a bit of truth in it.

"No idea. Last we talked was seven years ago, mom. You know that."

Somehow, saying it out loud stung him a little. Alesshi must have reopened the wound. He internally growled at the thought of the asari last night.

"Do not lie to me, Atemisk. I can see right through you, dove. Talk to me," his mother had reopened mommy mode and was now capable of making him spill his guts. But Atemisk held strong. The human girl was nothing but a memory to him now, but his mother did deserve the truth. She hadn't brought the girl up in years. So there had to be a valid reason she was bringing her up now. Atemisk sighed, leaned back against his seat and reluctantly gave in to his mother.

"What do you want to know exactly?"

"How is she doing? Where is she?"

"I really don't know where she is, mom.""

"But you once did, did you not. I know you, Atemisk. You two were inseparable when you were younger. That kind of bond doesn't just completely disappear. You had to have been keeping tabs on her making sure she was okay." His mother smiled warmly at him. As if proud of his commitment to the girl's well being.

Atemisk was quiet for a while. He did not want to speak of the girl. He was hoping he could just wear his mother out with his stoic silence. But he knew better. She had three kids. This woman had all the patience in the world. He scratched his fringe and gave in.

Atemisk sighed. "Last I heard, she was working down at Omega,"Atemisk answered with a hint of disappointment hidden in his flanging undertones. His mother's eyes widened, but she remained calm and quiet, awaiting any more information he had to give.

"But that was at least four years ago, aside from that, mom, I really don't know anything else. Why do you ask?"

"She's gone missing as well. I haven't received a message from her in some time."

At that information, Atemisk grew quiet. His mandibles pulling in against his plates. "Well, maybe she joined the Alliance and she's just under cover somewhere? I don't know, and I really don't care." Atemisk's brow plates furrowed. His anger suddenly rising. He was done talking about the stupid human girl. It'd been years since he'd even seen her. Yet she hadn't left his mind since he got back to the Citadel last night. Atemisk just wanted to relax. Maybe even visit a few other gentlemen's clubs.

Atemisk looked into his mother's eyes and saw just how heartbroken she was about all of this. He knew the girl and his mother would occasionally message one another. Their parents had been friends since before the both of them were even born. So, naturally, they grew up together. His family had been a second family for her while growing up. And, unbeknownst to him until now, apparently they still remained so.

Atemisk sighed in resignation. "Look. Maybe I can see if Barla Von can dig up any information about her. I need to go to C-SEC later anyway. I'll stop by the financial district on my way", he promised. And it was as if he had literally lifted a ton of weight from her shoulders. The worry in his mother's face had completely disappeared and her eyes returned to their usually cheery disposition. He hadn't even done anything. All he'd said was that he'd look into it. Yet, she was already relieved. That spoke volumes about his mother's faith in both his professionalism and his word.

"So, you promised to tell me about your drug bust,"Nyxera said. Her smile lighting up the entire commons area. Atemisk's mood instantly sky rocketed as he retold events of his last job. They stayed and talked about his success for another two hours. Well after their food had been eaten.

Atemisk let out an exasperated sigh. This "relaxing" shore leave was turning out to be anything but. It was no surprise to him that his sister, Suli, hadn't replied to any of his messages. Her job was hectic and sporadic. As an Asari justicar, she was not bound to the normal limits of military soldiers. She went wherever there was even a sliver of injustice. So she was pretty much traveling all over the entire galaxy. This wasn't the first time she'd gone silent. She'd be lucky if she passed a comm buoy every few weeks. But Krystal too? Atemisk had to admit that was unusual.

He hadn't been entirely truthful with his mom during their lunch date. In truth, he had checked up on the human girl quite recently. Just short of a year ago actually. He had once made it a mothly routine, in fact. Her absence from his life did nothing to quell his duty to her. She had saved his life; bad blood or not, he owed her. Not to mention he promised his mother he would look after the girl.

He'd even paid her a few visits whenever he'd have jobs on Omega, unaware to her of course. He was expontentially careful to avoid her. It may have been seven years since she'd last seen him, but he knew she'd recognize him with ease. Growing up with her, she had told him repeatedly how much she enjoyed the unique color of his plates. He never understood why. To him, his plates were just a dark brown, by no means noteworthy. Plenty of turians shared the same color, in fact. He'd pointed them out to her on several occassions. But no matter how many times he did so, she would insist that he was different; that his plates were distinctively special.

She had described it as- in her own words, "chocolate nutmeg". Whatever the Spirits that had meant. So even if there was an infinitesimal chance of her forgetting his appearance, he sure as hell wasn't about to risk it. As of lately, he'd stopped his routine. She seemed stable last he saw her. Not to mention she she had grown fairly close to Aria. She'd spent most nights sitting up in the balcony with the pirate queen. Not many were allowed to head straight up to see her. So Atemisk figured Aria would see to the girl's protection from then on. It may seem like he was shirking his duties, but she didn't need him to watch her anymore. She was an adult now, as was he. They both had their own lives to live and he was tired of wasting his babysitting someone who had forgotten all about his existence.

Atemisk slowly made his way to the financial district, dragging his feet every step of the way. He hadn't seen the girl in almost a year. Thinking about seeing her now, now that he'd come to terms with not having to see her again made his stomach tie in knots. He didn't want to see her. Sure, he could admit that he wanted her to be safe; that underneath all the denial and bitterness he had accumulated over the years, he still cared for her well being.

But he just needed her to be secure somewhere else. Somehere he wouldn't have to see her face.

Atemisk came to a stop, completely absorbed in his reverie. In the beginning, he had actually missed the girl. He waited for a message, a vid-mail, anything! But it never came. He couldn't deny that he was the cause of their now broken friendship. But he'd been young and far too prideful to apologize to her. He also couldn't deny that perhaps his ego had over inflated during his time in basic. He just assumed that she would come back around after she'd cooled down. But she never did. With his pride and ego wounded, he gave up on ever trying to repair their friendship.

Now that he'd thought about it in hindsight, it was actually a bit sad. They'd been so close growing up together. She'd even supported his decision to join the Galactic Emergency Responders- news that did not bode well with his father. The girl had been at his side through everything, even through the trials he didn't want her there for. Yet, now their friendship lay in shattered ruin.

Atemisk shook his head in an attempt to erase the memories. Daydreaming was getting him nowhere, literally. Regardless of their strained situation, she was still missing. And it was his job to protect people- including her. Atemisk let out a sigh, and resumed his walk with longer strides hoping the quicker he got there, the less chance there was of him changing his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

Barla Von was seated at his desk with copious amounts of data pads cluttering it. He seemed to be having a heated conversataion with a young quarian woman.

"I'm sorry miss," the volus took a moment to take a breath, "But as I've said, the Shadow Broker does not have the information you seek," he explained.

The quarian, like all others of her kind, was very petite. Even so, she did have somewhat of a curvaceous figure. She wore a white enviro-suit with an abstract golden design embroidered upon it and a yellow mask that, aside from her luminous eyes, obscured all other facial features. Why she was here on the citadel, Atemisk had no idea.

While seeing a quarian was not unheard of, it was unusual of late. With their homeworld, Rannoch, now accessible, the quarians were far too concerned with rebuilding their society to mingle among the citizens of the citadel.

"And as Iv'e said, you expect me to to believe that? This information is far too valuable for the Shadow Broker to simply just deem it unimportant," her voice thick with the accent common amongst her people.

"Important it may be, but-"

"But nothing," she held up a hand and cut him off, "do not lie to me. I know the Broker knows where she is. Now tell me!"

At that, Barla Von slammed his chubby three-fingered hands on his desk and stood.

"Rannoch-clan, I do not have the information you seek," he took a breath.  
"Do not sully my good name by calling me a liar. I am nothing if not a professional. I have no control over the information I am given. More than likely, your friend had just taken off without informing you. I am truly sorry about that, but there is nothing I can do. Now if we're done here, which I'm certain we are, please leave." Barla Von made his point by motioning his head towards the door.

As intimidating as he had meant for it to be, it fell just shy of humorous, as the poor man stood only a good three feet tall.

However, the quarian had the decency to not laugh in his face at least. She turned around and stormed out of his office. All the while muttering something or other about him being a bosh'tet.

Barla Von waited for her to be out of sight before collapsing back into his chair, breathing erractically. Atemisk had never seen an angry volus. He chuckled.

"Well, she seemed lovely," Atemisk stated sarcastically as he drew closer to the volus' desk. It was then that he had taken note of Atemisk's presence. "Oh, Mr. Qu'in, it is good to see you. I apologize for the indecency. Please, come in," he replied in between breaths.

"What was that about?"

"She was just inquiring as to the whereabouts of her friend, Krystal," he said. He regained his composure and quickly resumed working; typing on one of the many data pads strewn about his desk. "Apparentaly, if what the quarian says is true, she's been missing for a while now."

"Is that so," Atemisk half heartedly replied. He was only half listening in truth.

He shared no ill will for the volus. In fact, he was quite fond of Barla Von. The volus had never turned him away. He'd even given him information regarding his jobs. Atemisk was quite fond of Barla Von. The volus were even client races of the turians. But Atemisk just lacked the patience required to deal with the race. Due to their breathing masks, it took them, in his opinion, entirely too long to fnish a sentence. And Atemisk had never posessed an abundant supply of patience unless he was getting paid for it, in one way or the other.

Barla Von's words finally hit him. "Wait. What now?" Atemisk asked.

"The girl- she's been missing for about a month now," he paused to take a breath. "The quarian asked me if I had any information on her. I don't, but that hasn't swayed her decision to pester me."

"Shit," Atemisk said out loud to himself.

"So the GER are hunting for the girl as well, I see." Barla Von stopped his assault on his data pad and looked up.

"Yes," he lied. They weren't, obviously. But Atemisk could not divulge any information to Barla Von. Friend or not, he was an informant for the Shadow Broker. The Broker would know of Atemisk's true intentions before he'd even left the financial district.

"So you mentioned something about the quarian girl harassing you for info," Atemisk's professional switch flipped back on instantly.

"Three times," he took a breath. "And that's not including her attempts to hack into my terminal," Barla Von shuddered at the thought of the angry woman.

"Did she say why she so desperately needed the information?"

"No," he breathed. "But she does appear to be quite concerned for the girl's well being. She was even willing to spend 5,000 credit chits for her last known loaction," Balra Von looked down and shook his head. "I couldn't bring myself to lie to the girl. She's just looking for her friend".

"What do you mean you don't have any information on her? I thought the Shadow Broker had info on everyone."

"I would assume he does indeed have information on this Krystal woman, it's just unattainable from my terminal. Odds are he just has that information hidden from anyone but his eyes only.

"That doesn't strike you as .. unusal?" None of this was sitting right with Atemisk.

"Unusual it may be, but unlike you, I don't get paid to analyze," Barla Von resumed working.

Atemisk thanked him for his time and turned to leave when Barla called out to him, "Give your father my regards."

Atemisk nodded and left.

'Shit', Atemisk thought as he left the volus' office. He should know by now not to doubt his mother's foresight. But he was truly hoping that, for once, she was wrong.

He made his way back to his apartment. His interrogation would have to wait for now. Atemisk sighed. He was really looking forward to that.

He made his way through the presidium to his apartment. The citadel had rebuilt nearly everything from the ground up. Thanks to the reconstruction efforts and donated funds, the citadel looked nicer now than it had before the Reapers destroyed it. In addition to redesigning the apartments near the wards, they'd even built more luxurious apartments here on the presidium. While obviously far more expensive, it was a small price to pay for the extravagent view he was able to wake up to on the rare occasions he was home.

He spared the presidium an appreciative glance as he walked. The lake that graced the middle was shimmering against the light of the artificial sunlight. It reminded him of Earth's oceans. Specifically like the ocean that lapped at the sand in Krystal's parents' backyard.

Her parents had just recently moved to Earth. They had retired from their respective active militant careers some twenty years ago, but remained on the citadel for nearly twenty more if only to allow their newborn daughter to experience the diversity it offered.

Atemisk made a mental note to visit them soon as he made his way up the stairs leading to his respective apartment room.

Atemisk placed his hand against the door panel to his apartment and waited for the red light of the console to turn green. Once it permitted access for his entry, he hurried inside and immediately brought up his omni-tool.

The only way he would find the girl is if he backtracked to where he'd seen her last.  
'Omega', he thought to himself. Of course that was almost a year ago, but that was all he had to go on right now. His deft fingers flew over his omni-tool as he typed out a message to his superior officer explaining his absence and his current situation. His job was rather lenient, to which he was thankful. He need only to say the word 'trouble' and they'd let him see to it as he saw fit; within the law of course.

Once that message was finished, he started a new one. Another great perk to his job was the ability to charter ships. The need had to be necessary, it wasn't a private sky limo after all. But the need came about more often than he would've suspected. Thankfully, the pilot of said ship, Valera, liked Atemisk. So asking her would all but guarantee his safe voyage to Omega.

As soon as the second message was finished, he went upstairs to pack. Even with the destruction of the Reapers, Omega was still Omega. Murders, robbery and arson still littered the planet. One could never be too prepared for Omega. He made sure he grabbed his Javelin rifle, extra thermal clips and even a couple of pistols, just in case. Sniper rifles didn't do much good with close encounters. Of course, Atemisk never gave them the chance to get that close. But all the same, if his first experience on Omega taught him anything, it's that anything could happen.

"You know you owe me, right?" Valera asked, more rhetorically than an actual question.

"Shit. That's right. It totally slipped my mind. Where most people have hearts, you just have that gaping black hole," Atemisk teased.

"Screw you, Qu'in!" Valera swung at the co-navigator's seat next to her, where Atemisk resided, but missed.

"Maybe later, but right now let's just focus on getting there safely." Atemisk's sub vocals dropped all playfulness.

Valera resumed her professional demeanor in an instant. Valera was pretty enough. Her greyish plates were adorned with white markings, making them somewhat hard to see from a distance. She was at least a foot shorter than him, and had a very wide and supportive waist. Her lithe frame kept him awake most nights they were on a job together; sometimes thrice or more in one night.

"So," Valera started, "heard Daniel took over your case," she stated, peering at him from the corner of her avian eyes.

Atemisk was leaning back in his chair, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle. His arms crossed over his turian equivalent of a chest. He peeked back at her with a brow plate raised.

"So?" He asked.

"Sooooo, whatever pressing matter you must attend to on Omega must be pretty important for you to back out of your interrogation."

Atemisk knew what Valera was doing. She was attempting to probe information out of him. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. She was a good teammate, great in the field and even better in bed, but entirely too nosey for her own good.

"It is," Atemisk replied dryly. He would keep his answers short. Eventually he would bore her with his sub par replies and they would resume their comfortable silence once more.

"I mean, you were just so excited to finally end this. It'd been, what, two months! Not to mention that nasty gash they gave you," Valera looked over at him.

Atemisk absent mindedly reached up to touch the newly formed scar adorning the left side of his plates.

"All I'm saying is that if it were me, I would have seen to that before moving onto another case," Valera's words dripped with menace. Clearly past memories were creeping up on her in the back of her mind.

Honestly, Atemisk was rather despondent about the situation. He was looking forward to finally finishing his case. Although he was mostly looking forward to the revenge he was about to take. But it was probably for the best. He could not promise himself that the merc would have lived after their debriefing.

"I'm a professional, Valera. Not everything has to be about revenge," he lied.

Valera eyed him now, trying to get a read on this change in attitude. She had been part of his ground team during the red sand bust. She'd been present when the merc brought the blade to Atemisk's throat, through sheer dumb luck, it missed and instead sliced his face. She'd seen Atemisk grab the human by his throat and slam him against the wall. She'd seen the terror wash over the human's face; the tint of blue creeping up on his face as oxygen escaped him. No matter how hard he'd kick at the turian, he refused to let go. He clawed and scratched with blunt nails at the hand around his throat to no avail.

Atemisk had finally released the human only after the kicking had ceased. He fell to the floor in a slump. Valera had to make sure he was only unconcious.

She knew what revenge looked like. And she knew Atemisk would have sought such when the chance arose. Now that he had his chance, he had let it pass by with no more than a reluctant shrug. For him to just walk away so willingly..  
Whatever business he had to take care of on Omega had to be substantial in comparison.

The silence hung in the air between them. No sound but the constant hum of the drive core beneath their feet. Valera wanted to know what exactly was so pressing, but decided to just drop the matter. Atemisk would not allow himself to be pressured and if she were to press the matter, he would close off completely.

"So," Valera changed the subject, "have you eaten today?"

"Not since noon," Atemisk replied.

Valera's mandibles spread into a grin. "Great! You can have dinner with me. Why don't you go down and get us some food?" she may have phrased it as a question, but her sub vocals just about demanded it.

Atemisk was actually starving, so he didn't mind all that much about her demading tone. He hadn't eaten since his lunch date with him mother, and that was eight hours ago. And even then he'd only eaten half of it. The news of both his sister and childhood friend going missing didn't allow him to enjoy much of his food. Suli was good, but it wasn't like her to go this long without responding to either him or his mother. As far as the girl goes.. well, he couldn't say that he wasn't concerned. Friend or not, he did care for the girl's well being.

Atemisk rose from his seat and headed downstairs to the kitchen. It wasn't a large ship. It didn't have an abundant supply of room, but it would suffice for his purpose. No need to charter a war ship for just a flight to Omega.

The cook didn't seem like he'd know very much about dextro cuisine, but he had actually surpassed Atemisk's expectations. Both Valera and Atemisk had devoured their food just as quickly as you'd expect from the carnivorous species.

"You'd think, what with him being human and all, that he'd be mediocre. But the food is actually quite good! I'm thinking about requesting him on my ship permanently."

"That might upset a few of your turian brethren among the other ships," Atemisk replied.  
The cooks were rotated between ships. That way, everyone got at least one decent meal every few weeks.

"To hell with them," she laughed. "I have the best crew, and the best crew deserves the best cook," she stated matter of factly.

Atemisk just shook his head and pulled up his omni-tool. He wasn't sure how long his stay on Omega would last, so he needed to start making preparations for it. He was so absorbed in his planning, he hadn't noticed Valera leave her seat. At least not until he looked up to find her now straddling him. Not an easy task given the armor in the way.

She bent down and licked his mandible. That caused shivers to dance all along his spine. This was not uncommon among turian vessels. It was not considered scandalous or fratirnization. This was expected among his kind- encouraged even. Sex was both a good work out and a stress reliever. In his personal experience, more arguments ended amicably with sex than fights ever had. So long as sex did not interfere with daily tasks, they were free to do whomever they pleased. Being run by a mostly turian higher command, this freedom was extended to all it's crew members. Most humans were still somewhat skeptical regarding the practice, but some had warmed up to the idea.

"You know," Valera purred, "we won't reach Omega for a few more hours." She began nibbling at his throat and Atemisk growled in response. He'd almost forgotten about his last failed sexual encounter. His stress levels were spiking, espcially with the added task of finding one human girl. Only spirits knew where she was. He need to relax. He needed to allow himself to.

Atemisk clawed at the under armour gracing her thighs. He slowly moved his talons up to grab her waist. She purred at that and began unbuckling his armor, tossing the pieces to the floor as quickly as she could get them off. With his torso finally vulnerable, she bent down and began licking his throat, moving further down at a very glacial pace. Atemisk's patience was wearing thinner with every stroke of her dexterous tongue. She was teasing him.

"Hmm.. playing games still, I see," Atemisk said.

"I seem to recall you wanting to celebrate your last big success with the Asari strippers. In fact, you couldn't get off my ship fast enough. Apparently celebrating with me wasn't satisfactory. You didn't think I was going to make this easy for you now, did you?" She teased, her mandibles fluttering slightly.

Atemisk growled. He wasn't in the mood for Valera's games. He stood and lifted her in one swift movement. He carried her to the back of the cockpit and set her on top of some of the forgotten boxes still residing in the corner. He placed his left hand on the door console, locking it, all the while stripping her of her clothing with his right.

He turned back to her naked form: lithe muscles, short lovely fringe, a supportive waist. She was the epitome of turian beauty. Atemisk stood there and admired her frame for a few moments. Valera giggled and pulled him into her. She began running her talons up and down the back of his neck.

"You're acting very strangely, like that of a man that hasn't been bedded for a while," she teasingly grinned at him. "It would seem your celebration last night didn't go as planned."

Atemisk chuckled.

"I ..suppose it didn't," he replied honestly.

"Aw. How sad." Valera unbuttoned his lower clothing and revealed his already unsheathed member. She looked back up at him and gave him a wickedly mischevious grin.  
"Let me make that up to you." Valera shoved him backwards. His pants weren't even completely removed, they had gotten caught on his spurs thus causing him to fall back hard onto the unforgiving floor.

He hadn't even hit the ground before she was on him. Valera had expertly slid onto him and was now rocking her hips in slow deliberate circles. Her insides were hugging every inch of him, causing his member to expand in size. Valera responded with a very seductive growl and began grinding against him even harder. Atemisk growled, dug his talons into her sides and rolled her onto her back all while never leaving her enterance. The moment her back hit the cold of the floor, he began thrusting into her. Valera, even during her pleasurable moans and purring, glared at him for his display of dominance. She attempted to push him off to resume her ride, when he grabbed her hands and pinned them to the floor. He and Valera always wrestled for dominance during their liasons. Both parties thoroughly enjoyed dominating; which always made for a very fun and eventful session. Valera growled a low warning. Atemisk laughed.

"What's wrong? Don't like being the submissive one? That's too bad," he teased and thrusted into her harder causing a low pleasurable moan to escape her. Valera allowed him his dominance for a few more minutes. She played the weak and innocent lady routine, just enough to lull him into a false sense of security. Atemisk was a very enjoyable lover, even if it was just sex, he was very generous. He paid attention to what his partner enjoyed and never finished before she did. His only downfall being that he never allowed Valera the dominant position. She hated being bottom, no matter how great it felt. 'And spirits did it feel great', she thought to herself.

Atemisk began thrusting into her faster and harder drawing her out of her musings. She dug her talons into his back which elicited another growl from him. She needed to get his focus off of her pinned hands. Valera reached up and and sank her sharp teeth into the soft flesh of his neck.

"Argh!" Atemisk enjoyed sex with human women and asari alike; their breasts were a fetish of his that, sadly, turian women lacked. But turians were the only race in which he could be as rough as he pleased without harming the girl. And the turian women sure as hell never held anything back on him. He loved it.

For a second his hands faltered, he tried to regain his composure, only he was a second too late. The second he loosened his hands around her wrists, she quickly slipped from his grasp, and shoved him off of her. He landed on his back a couple of feet away, clearly taken aback as to what had just happened. Valera stood and slowly walked to him. She stopped once both her legs were straddled over his waist; granting him a very pleasent view at least.

"Remember when I said you owed me.." She let the sentence finish itself as she lowered herself on top of him. Atemisk let a low growl pass his throat but said nothing more.  
Once more Valera resumed her position atop him. She began gyrating her hips against him again, her pleasure dripping from her enterance onto him.

Valera's once rhythmic movement was now becoming more erratic and less focused; her purring becoming louder. She was about to come. Much to Atemisk's dismay, she was right. She had been nice enough to take him to Omega, with almost no questions asked. He let her finish on top and he followed soon after. She rolled off of him and they both lay on the floor breathing erratically.

"Soooo," she finally said after she was able to catch her breath, "round two? I'll let you be on top this time.. well, IF you can beat me to it." She quickly pounced on top before he could even respond. Only this time Atemisk was prepared. He just as quickly pinned her hands behind her back and rolled her over. Successfully pinning both their weight on top, securing her arms underneath. Before she was even able to growl at him he had slid into her and was already thrusting.

Tonight was going to make up for his mistake with Alesshi. He had a lot of stress to release and a very willing participant to help with it. Tonight would surely be a good night. 


	6. Chapter 6

***I am SO sorry about the late chapter. We've been under some heavy weather lately and tornado sirens don't exactly allow a comfortable writing experience. But all the same, I am sorry. To make up for it, I'm also posting chapter 7 tonight as well. Yay! So without further adieu...***

Atemisk made his way through the streets of Omega, all the while eyeing every citizen that dared come too close. He encountered several altercations, but none that required any more than a few intimidating words or growls.

He made sure to avoid alleyways, and traveled the streets that almost always remained busy. Eye witnesses or innocent casualties were never a concern for the degenerates here, but one had more luck remaining alive and unharmed if they avoided darkened corners and empty streets. Omega was still the disgusting underbelly of the collective society: turian, asari, human, salarian, several vorcha and more. Omega was the breeding ground for chaos. Even with high connections and several weapons, you'd never be safe here. It completely blew Atemisk's mind that any one would voluntarily choose to live here.

After several minutes of weaving through the mob of people, he finally found his way to the heart of the city- in more ways than one- Omega. It was the most popular club in space. Even with the continuously added dangers of the city itself, it still remained the height of entertainment. He stopped a few feet from the stairs leading to the entrance.

The bar was enormous, it's lights nearly blinding, the music so loud he was sure it could be heard from all corners of the galaxy. Patrons poured out from the entrance, only to be replaced by more, it was a never ending cycle. The line into the club was ridiculously long. The bouncer rejecting more people than actually accepting. More than likely, most would-be patrons would not be lucky enough to make it into Omega tonight.

Atemisk was one of the lucky few that did. Omega, being what it was, everyone looked out for themselves. The Samaritans of this hell-hole were all but non-existent. No one would come to your rescue if need be. So it was always a good idea to keep the one person on the planet that actually would see to your safety happy. Atemisk sighed and made his way up the steps.

The turian bouncer gave him a look of utter disgust. Atemisk heard the bouncer's threats flanging in his sub vocals. As he neared, the bouncer stepped forward and opened his mouth to say something, but he suddenly stopped. The rank on Atemisk's armor must have finally caught his eye, because the turian stepped back and nodded at him, allowing Atemisk to enter.

He walked through the entrance and past the group of angry looking batarians to the left side of the door. The second set of doors opened to reveal what was "Omega". The club was enormous. There were floors upon floors, each with a copious amount of patrons dancing, drinking and grinding against one another. Asari strippers were swaying around on strategically placed poles throughout the club and waitresses carefully moved about distributing drinks.

The music was loud and vibrated against the walls. It was no short of a miracle that anyone could have a conversation here. Atemisk maneuvered through the mob to the bar, all the while scanning its entirety for exits.

"What can I get ya, sweetie?" The female waitress winked at him. The girl was short, and her skin incredibly dark. But her eyes were a light blue, making them strikingly beautiful coupled with her complexion. Half of her head was shaved, the other half was voluminous and fell past her right shoulder. She had an accent Atemisk couldn't quite place, but then again he'd only been to Earth a handful of times. Not enough to have learned all of the cultures it had to offer.

"Water, if you don't mind."

"Sweetheart, no one comes to Omega for water," she giggled.

Atemisk chuckled. "I'm actually looking for someone."

"There are a lot of people on Omega, love. You're going to have to be more specific," she giggled again and titled her head to the side.

'She definitely worked with Krystal', Atemisk thought.

"She works here, I believe. Her name is Krystal."

Atemisk watched the girl. He looked for any change in her features, any kind of cue that would tip him off as to what trouble his childhood companion had gotten herself into.

The girl's brows furrowed and she bit her bottom lip as she thought. Atemisk couldn't decipher if that was a good sign or not.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her for a while. I just supposed she quit, to be honest."

That was sound reasoning, if Krystal had been JUST a bartender. But Atemisk knew better. The girl had spent far too much time with Aria. He'd seen her lounge about the balcony with the pirate queen herself most nights. Aria even made sure a few of her own guards were never too far from the girl when she worked at the bar as well.

No. She was definitely doing more than simply bartending. And no one just quit Aria's "service" and walked away. Atemisk needed to speak with Aria; easier said than done.

"GER, huh?" The girl's sudden voice startled him a bit.

"So if you guys are looking for her.. does that mean she's in trouble?" Concern making its way over the bartender's soft face.

"No," Atemisk lied. "I was only curious. She was my favorite server. I just haven't seen her around her for a while and I got a little worried, that's all."

The girl's face relaxed and returned to its happy state once more.

"Oh thank goodness. She's such a doll. Hmm. Favorite huh? You know she wasn't the only attractive bartender here," she winked.

"I don't know. She was always so polite and quick with my orders. I may have to find out where she's working now and switch clubs," Atemisk returned her wink.

The girl smiled. "We can't have that, now can we. One water coming up." She winked at him once more, turned and left to fetch his drink.

Atemisk used that time to locate the pirate queen herself. As usual, she was in her spot in her birds eye view balcony. There was no way he'd be able to get to her without an altercation. He needed a plan.

As Atemisk was constructing his plan, the bartender returned with his water placed on a tray. He looked at her and smiled; ready to continue their playful banter, when she just as quickly left.

'Odd,' Atemisk thought. But he shrugged it off. He reached for his glass and lifted it to drink, only then did he notice the small piece of paper stuck to the bottom of his glass.

'Aria wishes to see you.'

Well, maybe seeing Aria would be easier than he had originally anticipated.

Atemisk stepped into the balcony. The view from here was both exhilarating and nauseating. Heights weren't exactly the best thing to combine with inebriated people. He wondered just how many patrons had fallen over the edge.

"Move." The batarian body guard said as he lifted the shotgun in his hands, as if to threaten. Atemisk snorted at his idle "threat", but moved further into the room.

Aria was seated at her couch; arms spread across the back of it. Her purple skin glowing luminous in the colorful lights of the club. Her face seemed to always have a permanent scowl. Even when she smiled, and her genuine smiles were few and far between.

"That's close enough." The asari demanded.

Atemisk stopped.

Aria spent a few long minutes looking at him, evaluating. It was starting to become awkward. Atemisk cleared his throat.

"Evening. My name's A-"

"I know who you are," she spat as she waved her hand dismissively.

It didn't exactly surprise him. This was her club after all. And being in her line of "work", she no doubtedly needed to keep tabs on who came and went. But he wasn't happy about the news either.

"Atemisk Q'uin. Member and squad leader of the Galactic Emergency Responders." Aria was well informed.

He stood there. Not really sure what to say. That was clearly her intention, because a small smirk was making its way across her purple lips.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well.. I've been hearing nothing but good ravings about your lovely establishment. I thought I'd pop in and see for myself."

Aria's smirk fell from her face.

"Don't fuck with me."

Her bodyguards stepped closer, but she waved them off.

"I'll ask you again," she said slowly, "what are you doing here?"

Atemisk eyed the Asari woman. There was no point in lying, if he were to remain on Omega, she'd know of his movements and his activities soon enough. He couldn't take a piss without Aria knowing. His mission would go monumentally smoother if he was just able to get Aria's assistance. However, getting her to back his cause would definitely prove difficult. No employee of hers was ever deemed irreplaceable, no matter how valuable or talented. To her, everyone was expendable. But at the very least, he could try to convince her from derailing his investigation.

A grimace started making its way to her face, she was clearly becoming impatient with him.

"Krystal."

Aria tilted her head to the side and Atemisk felt his stomach tighten. Did the human girl teach this move to everyone?

"What about her?"

"I'm looking for her. I know she worked here- for you."

Aria watched him for a while, again as though evaluating him.

After a few more long moments, the asari woman's lips slowly upturned into a smile.

"And what exactly do you want with this girl?" She asked as she crossed her legs.

"I have information that she's been missing for quite some time now. And last she's been seen was here, under your employment."

" .. I could lie to you and tell you that I don't know what you're taking about. But we both know that's not true, don't we?"

Aria's smirk becoming larger, her attitude becoming more smug. Something about it agitated Atemisk, as though the Asari was suggesting something.

Atemisk bit down his anger and kept his professional demeanor.

"I just need information. With this being the last place she was seen, I assume you know of her whereabouts. Where is she?"

"If anyone knew, I'd expect you would," she replied as she waved over a previously unnoticed waitress.

Atemisk's mandibles fluttered open in shock.

Aria had seen him? There was no way she did, and even if she had, she wouldn't remember. It'd been a year after all. But she recognized him quite easily..

He was glad turians couldn't blush, because he was sure he'd be as red as the couch she sat on. Thank the spirits turians weren't constructed to be so vulnerable like the humans. But regardless of his stoic expression, Aria picked up on his flustered movements immediately.

She chuckled at his embarrassment.

"I see everyone that comes into my club, Mr. Qu'in. No matter the amount of time that's passed, if you've been within these walls, I'll remember. I am Omega after all. So to answer your internal question, yes, I saw you here." She closed her eyes and took a sip of her drink, savoring it. As she was placing the glass down, she froze; her eyes narrowed.

"Or is it maybe someone else your were concerned of noticing you?" She smirked.

His mandibles clicked in agitation. Aria laughed darkly.

"How humorous. But since you're so concerned on the matter, no. I haven't told your little girlfriend,"she chuckled.

A little relieved, he quietly released the breath he'd been holding.

"Where is she?"

"Hmm. What do I get out of this?"

Atemisk growled.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, seeing as how this is more of a personal investigation and not professional, I believe I am owed something. I am a business woman after all."

Atemisk had been patient for long enough.

"I don't have time to play these mind games with you," he all but snarled. "I know about all of your illegal activities: the red sand operations, the illegal weapons distributions. I know everything from the murders all the way down to the tax evasion. Instead, I choose to spend my time locating a missing girl. I choose to look the other way-for now! And yet, you sit here and stall me. If you don't want the entire GER hauling yours and your incompetent guard's asses to jail, you'll wise up and tell me what I need to know. Times have changed, Aria. You don't control as much of the galaxy as you'd like to believe." By the end of his threat, he was baring his sharp teeth.

The batarian guard made an unimpressive threat to Atemisk, one that was not even heard. His focus was on the purple Asari woman seated in front of him.

The glare Atemisk gave her could've killed a lesser being, but this was Aria. She took his threats in stride and not once did she look away.

Aria was thinking. His job, while not official in regards to military standards, it certainly was by the council's. And the last thing she needed was the council sending soldiers marching through here and shutting down her domain. Normally, she would defy his threat and kill both him and every single soldier that entered her club, but the turian was right. Times have changed. She did not possess the power she used to; Cerberus saw to that.

After a few long moments of hateful glaring, Aria's face softened.

"... what are you going to do with her?"

Atemisk was not expecting that question. It shattered his anger. He was at a loss for words for a few moments.

"Nothing. I just need to know where she is and if she's in danger. That's it."

"That's all?" Her attitude slowly returning. "Why do you care? What do you have to gain from this?"

"I'm done answering your questions. Now answer mine," he snarled. Again, he was not patient and Aria was wasting his time.

Aria turned her head to the side and stared at something non-existent.

"... she's headed for a shipping vessel," she answered dryly.

"What? Why?"

Aria slightly turned her head towards him. Just enough to see him out of the corners of her eyes.

"I thought I only had to answer one question," she smirked.

Atemisk let a growl escape him. The batarian guard had apparently had enough of his disrespect, he stepped forward and pistol whipped Atemisk in the back of his head. Obviously, his first time doing so because Atemisk did not fall, if anything it made him furious.

Atemisk turned around and head-butted the batarian; hitting the two eyes on what would be considered his forehead and he went down screaming in agony. He was definitely new. Aria watched with amusement, clearly not caring who the victor was.

The other guard watched the display, clearly the veteran. He knew better than to attack a GER agent.

Atemisk turned back to the Asari. Aria drew her eyes away from the batarian to Atemisk.

"I don't know," she finally admitted.

"How do you not know? She's under YOUR employment."

Aria's purple brows furrowed, agitation replacing her previously amused state.

"That's your job, isn't it," she hissed. "She may be under my employment, but she doesn't live here. She does as she wishes. I am not a slave driver. As long as she sees to her duties, I do not interfere with her personal life. She came to me, told me of her intentions and left."

Atemisk was not expecting to hear that either. He was slightly taken aback. For whatever reason, the girl had disappeared on her own accord. His mandibles clicked silently against his face. Whatever the girl was looking for had to be important for her to run off for so long. Krystal was not a wanderer. She found peace in familiarity. It was just her nature.

"Do you at least know where they're headed?" Concern starting to make its way in his under tones.

Aria looked deep into Atemisk's eyes, only Spirits knew what she was looking for.

"No. I don't."

Atemisk bit back a curse.

"But, I do know what cargo they're shipping," she said as she stood. She crossed the distance between them and stopped only a few feet away.

"Slaves."

The knot in Atemisk's stomach became tighter.

"Slaves? Why is she on a slave ship?" He growled.

Aria ignored his hostility and responded with a calm voice, "Again, I do not know. She only told me of the vessel. She did not specify her intentions, nor did I ask them."

This was becoming more and more complicated. He had the resources available to find out where this "cargo" was headed. However, now he would owe Valera two favors.

Atemisk internally growled. How can she not know? How could Aria just let the human get herself into this? He was beginning to feel a headache come on. He needed to leave soon.

"Do you at least know the name of the vessel?"

Aria crossed her arms and sank into her hip.

She glared at him for a while before answering. Her glares were becoming less and less effective each time. She handed them out like candy.

"The Argosy," she finally admitted, her face softening a bit. She then turned on her heels and returned once more to her couch, her momentarily exposed gentle face returning to its original scowl.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Aria took a moment to contemplate.

".. perhaps. It may have something to do with her whereabouts but I can't be certain. A few days before Krystal left she came to me with a favor. Something or other about intercepting a few signals. She asked if I knew anyone that could decipher.. as she called it 'tech code' ," Aria rolled her eyes at first, but then smiled. "But she needed it to be kept secret. She needed it done without some unknown source hacking into it."

Aria went silent for a while after that, as if debating whether or not she wanted to continue.

"... we still have the intercepted messages," she finished somewhat reluctantly.

She waved over the waitress again and she handed Aria a data pad. Aria held it for a while, debating whether she wanted to relinquish the data to him.

Her brows furrowed and she opted to hand Atemisk the pad.

Atemisk took it and started scrolling through the information.

"You knew where she was, yet you didn't do anything?"

"It's her own personal affairs. She insisted she see to it herself. And I have faith in her. I do not hire the weak and inadequate," she hissed and shot him a nasty menacing glare that looked like she was accusing him of just that.

Atemisk shook off her unspoken insult, thanked her and left, making sure to half kick the batarian still laying on the floor rubbing his forehead.

He quickly maneuvered through the crowd and back to the streets of Omega. Once he made it outside, he pulled up his omni-tool to call Valera.

He cursed himself for relying on her so much lately. She answered his call by the second ring.

"Valera.." Atemisk groaned.

"I already saw this happening. I'm in docking bay two," she giggled. "But you owe me double. And this time I'M on top the whole time!"


	7. Chapter 7

***In all honesty, I'm not too happy with how the last chapter turned out. But I am absolutely in love with this one! :D**  
**Sooooo ... enjoy!***

Suli shot up from her nightmare in a cold sweat clutching her chest and gasping for air. She placed her hands against her forehead and tried to even out her breathing. The coolness of her palms both calming her and relieving some of the heat emanating from it. Now that she thought about it, her entire body was burning up. Her bed was drenched in sweat and her lips were beginning to crack.

She lifted her head from her hands and scanned the room. The room was nearly completely dark, the only light source was from the crack underneath the metal door.

However, she'd adapted to it and was able to make out a small tray laying on the floor a few feet from her.

She pushed off the thin pathetic excuse for a blanket, swung her legs over the side of the bed and rose from her tiny cot. Her legs gave out the instant she put her full weight on them and she fell hard to the cold floor.

"Dammit," she cursed under her breath.

Her knees hurt, and she would surely have bruises on her shins later, but she pressed on and crawled towards the tray. The second she saw what it was, she was stuffing her face, not even bothering to use the utensil provided. The portions were small and it tasted worse than cardboard, but she would have gladly eaten anything right now, she was starving.

She polished off her plate and licked the remnants of said meal off her slender blue fingers. She reached for the glass of water and nearly choked from drinking so fast. She coughed a few times, but once her coughing fit ceased she returned to drinking. This time, slowly swallowing the water. Once finished, her stomach let out a small slightly painful grumble, requesting more.

She had to give her captors credit. Feeding her just enough to keep her alive, but not enough for her to use her biotics. She could barely stand, let only cast a singularity.

Not only did they both disable and take her omni-tool, they'd even thought to separate her from the other hostages in case they opted to give their own food to her for their assured freedom.

She was left with only the clothes on her back and they were becoming dirty and tattered. Suli sighed and brought her back against the wall.

"Ow!" She silently screamed. The wall was iron hot. They must be near a sun somewhere.

"Great. If we don't starve to death, we'll all either roast or die from heat exhaustion," she muttered to herself.

She prayed to the Goddess that her distress signal made it to its destination. While she was still fairly new and only 150- young by Asari standards, she was still one of the most successful justicars the galaxy could offer.

"... and yet you go get captured by incompetent slavers. Ughh!"

She was usually building herself up, not tearing herself down. But she was feeling particularly somber today.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. She wasn't sure how long she sat there in the corner with her self pity. It must have been hours because just like clockwork, her stomach let out yet another painful grumble. She placed one of her hands on her stomach and kneaded at it, as though affectionately massaging it would ease the pain. It was so unbearable she almost didn't notice the door open.

Suli slowly raised her eyes to see her unwelcomed guest. The light from the hallway illuminating her tiny room making it much easier to make out her intruder; a human male dressed in generic armor stood in the doorway.

"Bloody hell," exclaimed the man.

And he pulled up his omni-tool. He pressed a few buttons and suddenly the lights were on. Suli quickly brought her hands up to shield her now stinging eyes. Her captors barely ever allowed her light, lest she find a weak spot in her room and escape. So she'd been in the dark for the majority of her imprisonment, her eyes were now adjusted to the darkness. Any light now burned her retinas.

"Better yeah?" He asked.

Suli did not reply.

After a few long moments, the pain in her eyes became bearable enough to remove her hands, but she still had to squint.

He smiled a wide smile at her once she looked at him.

Suli recognized the man; Bear was his name. Or at least that's what the others called him. She wasn't sure what a 'bear' was, but it probably had something to do with the copious amount of hair he had on his body. Hair grew everywhere: his chin, his arms, his legs, even on the back of his fat fingers.

Now she was very well acquainted with the human anatomy; the race being one of her favorites during some of her more amorous adventures. But she'd never seen one quite so... furry.

Suli just sat and sneered at him. He walked towards her and lowered himself into a squatted position.

"Do you need to go potty?"

Suli remained silent. This was humiliating. She was a seasoned justicar for goddess sake!

To add insult to injury, he didn't even bother closing the door, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to escape in her weakened state. The asshole.

"Oh come on, love. You're just being a stubborn child. Don't be stupid and hold it in. You haven't gone in days."

The man's eyes looked genuinely sorrowful. But Suli knew better than that. This man was one of the worst. The cut on Suli's lip being a painfully obnoxious reminder.

Suli just held his eyes and kept her mouth shut. In truth, she did need to go, but her pride being what it was would not allow her to accept their help. Food was one thing, she needed it to remain alive. But she would not piss in front of these men. Suli just held her head high and her lips shut.

Realizing he wasn't going to get a word from her, the man sighed and then rose to his feet. He looked at her a little longer and then turned and left.

_'The door. He didn't close it. It's still open!' _

No. This had to be a trap. Suli spent a few moments battling with her desperation for freedom against rationality. She'd been held captive for so long. Her body ached, her face hurt and she felt as though she would pass out at any moment. She was so exhausted all the time. She missed her family and she hated life.

But she clenched her jaw and opted to just stay put. There was no way this wasn't planned. And even if it were an accident, Suli wouldn't get five feet out the door before being found and thrown back. No. As much as it pained her, she needed to stay. She would wait, bide her time and escape when the time was right. She would free the other hostages, finish the job and go home to her family and her mother's delicious food.

The thought of her mother's home cooking made Suli's stomach tighten so painfully, she almost fell over. She brought her hands up to knead at her stomach again.

"Goddess, when I get out of here I am never going to complain about leftovers again," she chuckled to herself.

That was when the man returned. His smile wide and a tray in his hands.

"See. I knew it. I told them you wouldn't run off and 'ere you are. Smart girl."

Suli glared at him. She then smelled a familiar scent wafting through her room. It drowned her head in memories and warmth and sent pleasant chills up her arms; asari cuisine. More specifically, her mother's cooking. Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes and drool at the corners of her mouth. She quickly wiped her mouth with the back of her arm, not going unnoticed by the now laughing man.

He bent down once more and held out the tray for her. The smell was intoxicating and the appearance was even better. Suli couldn't help but notice the lack of water though. Maybe a common mistake for the other hostages but not for her. As an asari, she was naturally biotic. And biotics burned far more calories and fluids than a normal being. So constant food and water was a well-known necessity for biotics. A necessity they'd seen to since day one.

Now Suli may have been starving and her stomach may be near eating itself, but she certainly wasn't stupid. As hard as it was, Suli didn't move an inch. She just sat on the floor and bore her eyes into his. The man's smile soon faded and was replaced with a scowl.

Seeing her lack of excitement broke his. He quickly stood and started yelling at her, calling her words like 'ungrateful' and 'blue whore'. Suli just laughed to herself.

His attitude's 180 was by no means a surprise to her. She'd been dumb enough to fall for his "genuine kindness" her first day here, but not once since.

His yelling continued until he was blue in the face and the veins in his neck and forehead started to surface.

Suli could not help but think of her eldest brother. When he was but a child, he would kick and scream when he threw a tantrum. Their mother would, only goddess knew how, ignore him until he realized crying was getting him nowhere.

The fond memory made her smile. The man noticed and threw the tray of food at her. Even starving and exhausted, she was still able to avoid it.

She barely had time to lean up again before he was on her. He punched her in the face and she fell back to the ground. He used her momentary shock to straddle her stomach and pin her arms beneath his legs.

"I should've just fucking killed you when you showed up here," and he punched her in the face again. "But you can't imagine the amount of credits we'll get for an asari justicar."

Suli's face throbbed in pain, but she slipped her slender arms from underneath him and gathered what little energy she could to shove him off of her. He barely moved, but he did lose his balance, causing one leg to lift from the ground and that gave her enough wiggle room to crawl away from him.

She scrambled backwards to the wall furthest from him. He slowly stood and watched her with a wicked smile forming on his lips.

"I bring you food as a reward and this is how you show gratitude? "

"Ha!" Suli laughed, finally breaking her silence. "Reward? I'm not as simple as you lot. The next time you want to drug your victims, try not to make it so obvious, you twit!"

His pride clearly wounded, his smile evaporated and a reddish tint grew across his ears.

Suli's face hurt so badly. She was sure something broke. But she fought through it and kept talking. She needed to stall him to gather energy, she barely had enough to push him off the first time. But she was betting on the adrenaline to push emergency stocks of energy into her veins. Just enough to biotically force push him away from her.

"What were you going to do exactly? Have your way with me?" She laughed. "How sad. You need to drug someone in order to get laid. It must be quite the task for you to find someone whose standards are low enough to willingly sleep with you."

Bear just stood there clenching and unclenching his fists. The red from his ears spreading to his cheeks and down to his neck.

"Oh goddess you were! That's so pathetic I'm not sure whether I should laugh at you or cry for you."

And that's all it took. He was headed towards her as fast as his legs would allow. Suli let him get a foot away from her before she threw her hand out to cast her force.

It faltered, withered and then died within the span of seconds and she was left gasping and shaking from the exertion.

On a good note, however, the man was pushed back a few feet and stumbled. He slipped on her sheet on the floor, fell and hit his head on the edge of her bed.

Suli took a few moments to gather herself. After the shaking became more manageable, she brought herself up and she crawled towards Bear and felt for a pulse.

_'Just unconscious. A shame..'_

She searched through his pockets feeling for anything that would help. Finally after five credit chits, a primitive looking knife, and a data pad, she found an energy bar in his front pocket. She devoured the snack within seconds.

She turned her attention to the data pad she laid on the floor looking for anything she could use. But to no luck, it was all encrypted. She'd hold onto it for later.

With some energy returning, Suli tried to stand, her legs struggled, but at least they didn't give way again. She wobbled to the wall for extra support. The walls were still hot but the pain went unnoticed with the taste of freedom being so close. She got at least two steps out of the door when two more guards spotted her a few yards away. One called for back up on their omni-tool while the other was now sprinting towards her.

"Shit," she said to herself. She had no gun, no biotics. She was literally a sitting duck: a term she knew well since it was used quite often by her sapient lover.

She turned and ran as best she could in the opposite direction. She didn't know the layout of the vessel, since she'd remained in her cell the entire time. A fact she was now cursing herself for as she hobbled down the corridor. Pride be damned, she could have at least went to the bathroom if only to familiarize herself with her prison.

Suli's legs ached and her thighs burned. They begged for mercy and threatened to give out but she pushed forward past the pain.

Her pursuers now gaining on her, Suli turned the corner and went in the first open room she saw. She closed the door and pressed her hand against it's console to lock it. The green color finally turned red and she collapsed to the floor, her breath ragged and laboured.

Immediately after, came hard pounding against the door. Suli looked around for anything she could use, and once again, luck was not on her side. She had found herself in a supply closet filled with brooms, mops and various cleaning supplies. But sadly not the supplies she needed.

Suli was under no impression that she'd survive this. When they did finally open the door, they'd surely kill her. No one wanted a slave with such a severe flight risk; no matter how much they were worth.

Her duty was her life, innocent people was her blood, she'd sent the last known coordinates of this ship to her backup before she was captured. But that was several weeks ago. Not only had she failed her mission, she'd failed the innocent people among the ship. She prayed to the Goddess that they were rescued.

The pounding at the door suddenly stopped and was replaced by a mechanical noise. She recognized it, they were hacking the console. Suli was no tech, she would not be able to stop them, but she certainly wasn't going to just let them kill her so easily either.

She pulled out the knife she pocketed earlier and slid a finger across it. Her blue blood dripped from the blade. It wasn't nearly as effective or precise as her omni-blade, but it would suffice. She begged her legs to work one last time and hoisted herself up. Blade in hand, she spared her family one last moment of remembrance, and waited for the doors to open.

After several seconds of both dread and anticipation the doors whooshed open and she braced herself for the upcoming fight.

But no one moved. The guards stayed frozen in their respectable positions. Confused, Suli scanned the scene. A few human techs kneeling next to the console, a krogan impatiently attempting to kick down the door, the others were batarian and preparing to pull out their weapons.

They all had an electric bluish aura encompassing them.

_'Stasis.'_

Suli looked past the slavers to find a woman, oddly out of place, standing at the back. Small volts of blue electricity dancing all along her frame.

She was a tad shorter than Suli, and she wore a black and red helmet with a dark tinted visor, obscuring Suli's view of her face. Her armor's colors matched her helmet. It looked both sturdy and yet still managed to show off her svelte figure.

Suli stood speechless. Not really sure what to say. The adrenaline from the situation was fading and her legs gave out once more. She hit the floor hard , yet she reveled in the strain off of her legs.

The girl tilted her head to the side.

"Most people would say thank you, ya know," she joked.

Suli narrowed her eyes and looked up at her savior. She knew that voice. The woman removed her helmet to reveal a head full of galore curls. It fell in front of her face and covered it entirely. She blew out wisps of air in a failed attempt to remove the hair from her face. Clearly not working, she ran one hand through her hair to push it all back, revealing both a face and smile that Suli was all too familiar with.

"Krystal," Suli desperately whispered.


	8. Chapter 8

***Tornadoes. Tornadoes everywhere.. *  
**

Despite the throbbing jolts of pain coursing through her legs, Suli leapt up and threw herself at the woman before her, wrapping her arms around the girl's neck.

Krystal was slightly taken aback by the sudden movement. But she soon came to her senses and wrapped her arms around Suli's ribs, returning the affectionate embrace.

And just as sudden as it began, it ended. Suli unwrapped her arms and pushed herself from the girl.

Not completely unexpected, the girl's face remained unchanged and expressionless after the sudden separation.

Suli's brows furrowed, "What are you doing here?"

At that moment, Krystal's stasis began to dwindle. She could see movement returning to the krogan. Before he had the chance to break completely free of her stasis, she force pushed them all into the very closet she'd rescued Suli from.

"Saving you, it'd seem," Krystal sarcastically replied after locking and disabling the console.

Suli was still reeling. It took her a few moments to reply.

"I'm sorry, Krystal. But you shouldn't be here."

Suli hadn't meant for it to sound so ungrateful, but that's how to came out.

"Well, neither should you," the girl countered.

Krystal knew what the Asari woman was referring to, but she intentionally chose to feign ignorance. Suli looked at her with a face equal parts humor and impatience.

Krystal sighed, "This about your code?"

Suli looked down at her feet and wringed her hands together, suddenly feeling quite sheepish.

"I'm sorry. It's just you make it .. difficult to-"

"I make it difficult?" Krystal stated incredulously. "I haven't done anything illegal."

"No, but Aria has and you work for her!" Her sheepishness was starting to fade and anger grew in its place.

"Wow! Thanks Krystal for saving me. I truly appreciate you traveling all this way on my behalf, regardless of your checkered day job. The fact that you risked your life to come save mine means so much," the girl mocked.

Suli glared at Krystal, and the human returned it. They stood there for a few moments locked in a heated wordless battle, neither willing to back down.

The human's eyes were filled with unrelenting persistence. She was determined to win this. And Suli was sure the girl would. She was stubborn. And while at times it was an admirable trait, right now it was nothing more than a pain in Suli's ass. She didn't have time for this. She still had a job to finish. And she was wasting her time arguing.

Finally after what seemed like minutes, it was Suli the one to end their quiet war.

"Look, Krystal.. I do appreciate it. But-"

Krystal sighed and rolled her brown eyes. The anger previously present in them was now gone. "If there's going to be a 'but' in that half assed thank you, then you can watch mine as I walk away," and just like that, Krystal turned and left.

"It was nice seeing you, Suli," she said without looking back as she made her way down the hallway back to where Suli assumed her ship was docked.

Suli opened her mouth to call the girl back and apologize, but the words escaped her. She couldn't bring herself to apologize to a criminal. It defied her code. The fact that she even allowed the girl to live defied her code.

She worked for the pirate queen herself! And while Suli didn't have solid proof that Krystal was an active member in said business, the fact that she was affiliated with the woman at all made her look guilty.

But criminal or not, Suli could not bring herself to harm the girl. Not only had she watched her grow up, but she is- well, was her youngest brother's best friend. They'd been inseparable since day one.

Though their current relationship was now strained, at best. And the gap between them grew more and more each passing day, Atemisk would resent Suli if she had hurt the human girl. So she decided to just avoid the her instead. And that was easier said than done. Considering the girl was never more than a few steps from Aria, she saw Krystal far too often.

Suli sighed again. Krystal had gone out of her way to rescue her. She made a mental note to show her appreciation later.

She would have credits transferred to the girl's account for coming to Suli's aid. But she had to get out of here first. Suli turned around and headed back down the hall, looking for the other would-be slaves.

Suli's legs had just about reached their breaking point, but finally having found the hostages, she couldn't show them weakness. She'd already failed them once, she wouldn't do so again.

After several wrong turns, she had finally found the cock pit. Apparently, her captors had thought ahead again. It seemed they'd already calculated her escape. There were no escape pods. Nor were there any smaller ships. Her captors seemed to go through quite the amount of work to keep her there. Oddly enough, Suli was almost flattered.

She smiled to herself as she spotted the console. If she wanted to save these people, she'd need to do so by steering the shipping vessel itself.

She sat in the pilot's seat and the muscles in her legs immediately thanked her for the break. The hostages had taken up every other seat in the galley. Some even chose to remain in their cells; the many weeks of torture and starvation taking its toll on their health both physically and mentally. There was nothing she could do for them at the moment. But she was sure their families would know what to do.

Suli's fingers flew across the console and the ship responded in kind. She turned the colossal ship and set in the coordinates for the citadel. There, every one could be seen to at Huerta memorial and their respective families could retrieve them.

For now, Suli could for the most part finally relax. Her jaw was throbbing with pain, but her body was far too worn out to go searching for anything to numb it. So she settled in the seat, and closed her eyes. And for the first time in weeks, her failure and death did not plague her nightmares.

"Shit!" Was all Suli said before she was being thrown from her seat. She landed on the floor several feet from her chair and rolled another couple further. The minute she stopped rolling she looked up to find the cause. Her eyes still hazy from sleep, she struggled to identify the figure.

He was large. And she could make out drops of blood dripping from his forehead. His large bulbous fingers were covered with hair. Her eyes shot open.

'Bear'.

Before she had time to react, he was on her pinning her to the floor.

"Maybe next time you try to escape, you make sure you've killed me first," he laughed.

He grabbed at her wrists but she kept pulling them through his sweaty grasp. She pulled her knee up to shove him off again, but this time he was ready for it. He grabbed her ankle and a wicked grin made its way across his cracked lips. Fear slowly trickled its way through her veins as the realization dawned on her.

Suli began to panic at the thought of this disgusting man having his way with her. She slapped and pulled and scratched to no avail. Her panic made her exert all energy. He finally got a hold of her wrists and pinned them with one hand while the other began to crawl up her shirt.

Suli bucked and screamed for help, but no one came. He removed his hand and raised it to hit her, she closed her eyes and braced for the pain when she suddenly felt a weight lifted off of her torso and heard a painful grunt. She opened her eyes.

"Are you serious, Suli?!"

It took a moment for Suli to process the scene before her.

"Krystal", Suli breathed.

She had her right arm held up in the direction of Bear, with long blue electric bolts swirling around her hand.

The human girl had force pushed Bear across the entirety of the cock pit. He lay unmoving on the other side. But Krystal still remained where she was, her arm still raised, but her eyes and attention on the shooken Asari.

"Did you not think to check for any more hostiles before you decided to take the ship?!"

Krystal's face was hidden behind her helmet again. But Suli was sure she could feel the heat from the glare she was surely giving her right now. Angry or not, she couldn't have been happier to see the girl.

Krystal walked over to Bear and knelt down to check a pulse. Suli, still laying on the floor, sat up. She was still shaken by the whole thing.

'If Krystal hadn't shown up, I'd- He would have...' Suli physically shuddered at the thought.

She looked up at Krystal, who was now walking towards her.

She bent down and grabbed Suli's face with both hands. She gently turned it back and forth as though assessing the damage. She stopped at Suli's now bruising jaw. The blood had dried up and the swelling had gone down a bit, but it would be some time before she would be able to speak without favoring that side.

Krystal let go of her face, pulled out a tube of medi gel- from what seemed like nowhere, and gently rubbed it on Suli's cut lip and swollen jaw.

"This'll numb the pain, but you should still go get that checked out. There's definitely something broken," Krystal warned.

Once she was done, she helped Suli up.

"We need to go," she said as she grabbed Suli's arm.

"Where?"

"My ship. We're not staying here."

"What about him?" Suli asked, motioning her head in the direction of the still floored man.

"He's only unconscious."

'Pity'.

"But .. what about the others?" Suli asked. "I can't leave them here."

"We aren't. I have plenty of room. I was prepared for all circumstances," she boasted.

Suli was several inches taller than Krystal, but right now she felt smaller than a pyjak.

The girl had been prepared to save both Suli and the people. She saved her life twice today. And she even came back after Suli had yelled at her. Suli tried to focus on her steps, rather than her ever growing guilt.

"What are we supposed to do about those that refuse to leave their cages?" Krystal asked looking back at Suli.

"I called GER. They have a scouting ship not far from here. They'll pick them up and see to their arrival at Huerta Memorial. Shouldn't be more than 15 minutes."

Krystal turned and left the make shift cell room. Suli followed after, and she couldn't help but notice Krystal's shoulders tense at the word 'GER'.

They made their way back upstairs to the galley. Once they collected the people seated there, they made their way into the docking bay towards Krystal's docked ship.

She eyed the ship once it came into view. It was somewhat large but by no means extraordinary. If anything it was rather plain, as though intended to be overlooked. Had she seen the vessel before, she certainly wouldn't have remembered it.

"Twenty-three people," Suli had mumbled to herself.

"What?" Krystal asked, looking back at Suli over her shoulder.

"Huh?" Suli asked, startled from her reverie.

"You said something."

"Oh uhh.. I was only talking to myself," Suli shyly admitted.

The girl accepted her answer and returned her attention to her steps.

'Twenty-three people I almost failed'.

'Maybe I'm not as successful as I thought. Maybe.. I'm not fit to be a justicar.'

Suli sighed in resignation and looked towards Krystal. She was several inches shorter than Suli, and certainly smaller regarding her frame. And as far as she could tell, she had no definitive muscle tone to speak of. Suli had trained for several human lifetimes to become a justicar. And through her training, she'd developed thicker skin, and could see the hard earned corded muscles underneath her blue skin.

Yet, she failed. How Krystal could accomplish where Suli had failed, was both baffling and infuriating.

So lost in silent envy, she hadn't noticed the girl's steps were slowing down- dramatically, at that. Suli's eyebrows furrowed.

'But, she'd only casted a few biotic moves. Nothing that would deplete a considerable amount of energy,' she thought to herself.

And then she heard a stifled yawn come from her.

'That's why'.

It never occurred to her that perhaps Krystal had missed a few meals or even a few hours of sleep because she was too busy searching for Suli.

Realization finally dawning on her, she felt like garbage. Krystal had spent weeks searching for her and Suli had turned away her help so rudely. Goddess knows how many credits or resources she went through.

Her guilt had finally become too much.

Suli opened her mouth to apologize when she heard movement to her right.

Apparently her companion had heard the same, because they both stopped walking at the same time. Suli held out a hand for the rest to remain still.

She pulled out the pistol Krystal had lent her and looked for any signs of movement. Aside from Krystal's ship and a few abandoned crates, the room held nothing.

Suli motioned the hostages to continue their trek onto the ship. They all quietly attempted to hurry up the walkway that led up to it while Krystal and Suli remained watch.

Everything was quiet for a moment. And then a small object was tossed over the crates at them. By the time Suli figured out what it was, it was too late to react.

"Soooo. Guess what Mr. Grumpy plates," Valera teased.

She'd been in an elated mood for hours now. She was nearly bouncing out of her pilot's seat. While any other time, it may have been adorable. Today, it was just grating on Atemisk's nerves.

He could have just gone to another room, sure. Maybe release some of his pent up rage in the sparring arena, or target practicing, but he'd been far too eager to get to their destination. So he decided to hold onto his energy for the mission and sit in the co-pilot's seat next to Valera.

"What?" He replied, unamused with her little game.

His attitude did nothing but bounce off of her.

"I have news," she smiled over at him.

"News regarding your sister..."

Atemisk's heart sunk. He looked at Valera with worry in his eyes.

"What about her?" Concern unmasked in his under tones.

"Hmm.. I don't know. You've kind of been an ungrateful ass today. Even after I waited for you on Omega. Do you know how many people were eyeing my ship?"

Atemisk snarled and let out a growl so loud, it permeated the walls.

"Alright!" Valera held up her hands in defense. "Your sister's okay. She just called HQ. Apparently she rescued some slave ship or something. She needs us to do an evac."

He was anxious before, but hearing a confirmation of his sister being alive only increased it. Not only was she alright, but she was at the very same location they were heading to. And while he wasn't thrilled to see the human, he was relieved to know that whatever trouble she was in was resolved by Suli.

His eagerness became too much to bear, he couldn't sit still any longer. Atemisk rose to his feet and went to do one last weapons check.

Valera watched him go. Both enjoying and despising the view of his frame walking away from her. She was used to Atemisk's attitude. Professionally, he was a hard ass. He took things too seriously, and almost never joked with her while on a job.

But when ever she had the pleasure of enjoying his company outside of work, he never stopped joking. He was an utter delight. Sometimes, she couldn't believe they were the same person. She enjoyed both sides of him, his professionalism was one of many reasons they'd spent several nights together. She enjoyed the opportunity she'd been given to work with him.

So if she wanted to stay a part of his team, she had to learn to deal with both sides. So she did. She adapted to his scowl and his humorless demeanor. She tolerated his berating her whenever she screwed up.

But not once did he ever growl at her that way. His vocals held no warning saying she was over stepping her boundaries. They were threatening.

Valera turned back around and sighed.

"Maybe .. maybe I went too far this time. I mean, it is his sister. I shouldn't have played about something so important," she quietly berated herself.

She couldn't help but think about the way his mandibles clicked or how easily he bore his fangs at her. The image burned in her brain. Her heart began to sink into her stomach. Valera shook off the negative thoughts and immersed herself into her work.

She began to run last minute diagnostics on her ship. After that was done, she set it for auto pilot and went to speak with her crew personally about what they'd need during their next docking at the citadel. She stayed busy and did everything she could to keep her mind quiet.

"Perhaps Suli .. stopped the human girl from selling slaves? No. If the girl was doing that, Aria would have known. Maybe she's operating her own scheme without Aria's knowledge? .. No. She's smarter than that. If she was going behind Aria's back, she wouldn't have told her about any of it, let alone left a location."

Atemisk had been racking his brain trying to piece together why the human girl was on the same ship with Suli.

"Maybe.. maybe Kry- the human," he corrected himself, "maybe she was captured as well."

Atemisk didn't like using the girl's name. It reminded him too much of how often he used to say it.

Atemisk sighed and scratched the back of his neck. He'd run through every possible scenario in his head but could not come to a single sensible conclusion. His weapons had been thoroughly stripped, fixed and cleaned twice already. He was running out of distractions. And if they didn't get there soon, he couldn't promise he wouldn't take apart anything else.

Thankfully to his immense relief, Valera's voice sounded over the intercom alerting him of their arrival.

"We are only about 2 klicks away from our destination. Hope you're ready."

Her voice had lost all its usual emotion, it had become flat and monotone. But Atemisk waved it off. He'd check on her later. Right now, his mind was preoccupied with other things. Such as why his sister had gone silent for so long, why the human girl was there, and why the very thought of seeing her made his stomach tie in knots.

He dismissed the feeling as nothing more than his nerves getting the better of him. He shook off the thoughts and gathered his gear.


End file.
